“I swore that I’d fight for you like crazy, with all of our strength and all of our might wth no mercy at all”
There have been many words spoken and thrown into the air over the past week. You can turn around on the street and hear people yelling at you: “It’s over, eh? It’s time to concede the championship.” You can hear the other team’s fans who are fighting with you for the title saying with joy, “A draw against Maccabi is just like a win.”
I’ve been having flashbacks since the opening whistle in Sakhnin last Monday. I can recall Avi Nimni turning everyone around at Teddy, deceive Korenfine and then take the ball out of the back of his goal. Right after that I take myself back to Basel where Eran Zahavi heads the ball off of the left post and into the goal just like CR7. Or how Barak Badash sent a deep ball to Zahavi who turned Kleyman inside out scoring the winning goal in the 3:2 Derby victory. Absolute madness!
Don’t you remember who we are talking about. Really?!?!
Back in 1996, the “Match of the Year” at Kiryat Eliezer where we ended up winning the league championship. Maccabi Haifa made sure to play with their stars and their heavy hitters in the Starting XI. At the break we were down 1:0. “Kashtan’s not going to be happy at halftime,” the TV commentators said. But the players emerged back on the pitch after just two minutes – ready for the match to restart. And boy did it ever begin as the Yellow-and-Blue walked off with a 3:1 victory on their way to the title.
I can’t wipe the smile off of my face when I think back to Ramat Gan Stadium in 2003 when it was painted Yellow-and-Blue. For a whole year we chased first place and were able to wipe out a 9-point deficit. Nothing and I mean nothing was going to stop us. Nimni scored and lifted the Championship Plate. WOW!
When we dropped a 2:1 decision to Plzen at Bloomfield at the beginning of the year, Barak Itzahki said: “The more difficult it is, the sweeter it will be.” I’m waiting for Monday to come already – to show everyone who we are – to fight with all of our strength and all of our might wth no mercy at all.
We Are Maccabi.
