In a video interview on Maccabi Tel Aviv's official You Tube page, midfielder Maharan Radi talks about his long journey from League 1 to the Israeli National Team

"We had a family friend who said he knew Shlomo Sharf from the time he was head coach at Maccabi Tel Aviv.  Shortly after I joined Maccabi there was that incident with (MTA legend) Avi Nimni and I joined the Under 19 team with (coach) Nitzan Shirazi. For a first year player I got to play a lot, we won the championship and made it to the National U-19 Cup finals. During that season there were players who were called up for the senior team but I was not in that category. I joined Hapoel Ashkelon in the second tier and my life was completely shaken up. From there I went to Maccabi Herzliya and started to climb my way back up to the (Israeli) Premier League".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALM87Z4tSlQ