One of the Maccabi Tel Aviv greats from this past decade will put on the Yellow & Blue once again. Sheran Yeini, who was the Club’s captain and captured a number of titles over the last few years, arrives back from Dutch outfit Vitesse so now’s a terrific time to look back at his fine career.

Yeini is a product of the Club’s Youth Department and played exclusively at Maccabi while in Israel. His debut occurred in the Toto Cup tournament back in 2004/05 against Bnei Sakhnin and was part of the squad for years to come. In the 2011/12 campaign, he took a giant leap forward and became one of the Club’s key players. His intelligent play on the pitch, leadership attributes and the ability to play a number of defensive positions well, turned him into a very important part of the Club. Yeini received the Captain’s armband for a number of matches, a reward for his continuing improvement and standing with the team.

Number 21 continued to star for the Yellow & Blue during the 2012/13 season and one of the most important moments of his career occurred when he lifted the Championship plate as the Maccabi Tel Aviv captain. Yeini appeared in 34 out of the 36 league contests and for the majority of the campaign played as a right back, a position that he rarely had played during his career up to that point. The veteran also showed some offensive ability, scoring two goals, one of which was a gorgeous marker against Hapoel Haifa. Yeini helped lead the Yellow & Blue defense which only gave up 30 goals all season long.

Yeini also had the opportunity to win the league title and hoist the 2013/14 Championship plate as captan yet again for the Club’s 21st title while playing in 29 league games finding the back of the goal once while picking up two assists. The Maccabi Youth Department product played in all of the team’s Europa League matches and helped his side advance to the Round of 32 for the first time in franchise history.
In 2014/15, Yeini helped Maccabi win the historical Treble when the Club won the League, the State Cup and the Toto Cup. At the end of the season, the captain bid adieu to his teammates and moved to Vitesse Arnhem in Holland. While playing in the Dutch league, he appeared in 36 matches while featuring in 10 games this season, including 8 times when he was included in the Starting XI before returning to the Yellow & Blue.

Avi Rikan was host Lior Timor’s first guest on this week’s edition of Maccabi-Cast and began by discussing how the Yellow & Blue moved on to the quarterfinals of the Israel State Cup:

“We knew that it wouldn’t be easy especially having such a tough and intense match on Monday night. Raanana is a good team that we had played very recently and the most important thing was to advance to the next round which is exactly what we did.”

The State Cup Round of 16 contests have been tough the past few seasons:

“It’s true that the Round of 16 has been tough but we made it through and now we can concentrate on the quarterfinals.”

Past month of play:

“I feel good and I’m getting a chance to play. I’m getting credit and I worked hard even when I wasn’t playing to make sure I’d be ready when I did get my chance to play. As a team, we are bringing a lot of emotion to each game, we are playing very closely to each other and we look good with a lot of chances. Even against Sakhnin where we had a lot of chances, we should have finished off the game much earlier on. But one of the good things is that over the past few contests even when we didn’t play well during certain minutes of the match we knew how to win.”

Playing left back:

“It’s no secret that I like to play more offensively and attack but over the past season, I’ve been working on this position and every day I learn something new both from my teammates and from the professional staff. I’ve been able to help out on the attack but have also played responsibly on defense. Little by little I’ve been able to be more of a complete player in this role.”

Maccabi Haifa on Monday night:

“We are expecting a tough game on Monday night and we know that any game against Maccabi Haifa is a challenge. We know what we are in for. After the Raanana match, we switched gears to begin focussing on Monday’s contest. What has happened over the past few years is history and we know how we are coming into the game and how they are as well. We have a lot of confidence and we want to walk away with all of the points.”

Preparations for the match:

“We are preparing for a good team with a quality squad and we know that it won’t be a simple match. We have to bring our aggressiveness and intensity to the game and make sure that we have plenty of chances on goal as we did in the past few matches. If we do that then we will make this into an easier game.”

Championship race with Beer Sheva:

“Right now, we have a match against Haifa and that is what concerns us, nothing else. We will have to work very hard for the full 90 minutes to make sure we take the win.”

Dror Bar Nur came on board to look back at Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Asian Cup victory in January of 1969 when the Yellow & Blue defeated South Korean side Yangzee FC 1:0 on Bar Nur’s 112th minute winning goal:

“Even though it’s been 38 years, I’ll never forget the goal at the tournament that was held in Bangkok. It was similar to the Champions League of today. Countries like Iran, Iraq and Kuwait took part in the competition. We finished our group in first place and the final was against South Korean side Yangzee who finished in first place in their group. There was over 50K fans in the stands and it was a very tough match with very few chances. We hoped to steal a goal or maybe head to penalties but then in the 112th minute I was able to score the goal.”

Celebrations:

“We celebrated after the match. I remember that after I scored I was all over the place. Once we got to the hotel afterwards we all jumped in the pool, the trophy almost broke and it was very exciting. There were no big headlines or TV coverage but it was the greatest accomplishment in Maccabi Tel Aviv’s history.”

Maccabi fans in the stands?

“There were just locals in Bangkok of the late 1960’s. Its was a totally different time and place than today.”

The only International title by an Israeli football club:

“Like I said it was Maccabi Tel Aviv’s biggest title in its history and it isn’t really marked as such because it was almost 40 years ago and there was no TV coverage. All of us felt that this was a huge feat.”

Then & Now:

“If we played against today’s Maccabi we would finish in a draw, but remember we are all about 70 now. The football of today is much different than our time. We all grew up in the Maccabi Youth Department and were Yellow & Blue through and through.”

Sheran Yeini is set to return to Maccabi Tel Aviv and sign a 3.5 year-deal, after the club reached an agreement with Dutch outfit Vitesse Arnhem.

Yeini, 30, scored one goal and made 42 appearances since joining Vitesse in July 2015 from Maccabi where he scored 16 goals in 341 appearances.

Yeini, told the club’s official website: “It is exciting to return home to Maccabi, a club so dear to my heart. I am delighted we have an opportunity to fight for the important titles of the season and I will do everything to help the team. Due to the fact the number 21 shirt is taken, I will wear the number 13 the shirt I have been wearing for the national team. I wish us all the best of luck!”.

Sports Director Jordi Cruyff added: “As opposed to regular signings, Sheran’s qualities need no introduction and are known to everyone connected with Maccabi Tel Aviv. We are happy to welcome Sheran back to Maccabi Tel Aviv as we think that this is the right timing for both of us to be reunited”.

The Minhelet HaLiga has published the schedule of games for Matchdays 21-25 in the Premier League. Maccabi will face Hapoel Beer Sheva on Saturday February 4th, 21:00 at the Netanya Stadium.

The Yellow & Blue will also play on the following dates:

Matchday 22: Maccabi Petach Tikva – Maccabi Tel Aviv, Monday February 13th, 21:00

Matchday 23: Maccabi Tel Aviv – Kiryat Shemona, Saturday, February 18th, 20:30

Matchday 24: Maccabi Tel Aviv – Bnei Yehuda, Saturday February 25th, 20:30

Matchday 25: Hapoel Ashkelon – Maccabi Tel Aviv, Sunday March 5th, 20:15

Following the dramatic victory over Hapoel Raanana on penalties, Maccabi Tel Aviv will continue their State Cup run in the quarterfinal round after being drawn against Maccabi Petach Tikva for the two legged tie.

At this stage of the competition, the quarterfinals becomes a two legged tie with matches taking place away on February 7-9 with the home leg on February 28-March 2 at the Netanya Stadium. This will be the 51st time that Maccabi is playing in this round of the tournament and the 39th time since the founding of the State of Israel.

The Yellow & Blue will also face Petach Tikva in league play during the month of February making it three times in three weeks that Maccabi will kick off against the same opponent. So far this season, the two sides ended in a goalless draw back in November at the Netanya Stadium.

Last season, Maccabi played Hapoel Kfar Saba in the quarterfinals and won by an aggregate score of 5:0 over the two matches. The year before that, Kiryat Shemona was the opponent as Maccabi won by a two tie score of 4:1.

Maccabi Tel Aviv FC reached an agreement with Brazilian top flight club Vitoria for the loan of Ramon Menezes Roma, till the end of the season with an option to buy the 21-year-old central defender.

Ramon, 186cm, who began his playing career at the youth department of A.D Bahia De Feira joined Vitoria in April 2015 and has since made 100 appearances for the senior side.

Sports Director Jordi Cruyff told the club’s official website: “Ramon is a young and promising central defender who has played a significant number of matches considering his age. We have been looking for a certain profile of a central defender and think that with Ramon we found  what we were looking for”.

Ramon is set to arrive in Israel in the next few days, undergo a medical and join the rest of the squad.

Egor Filipenka, the Yellow & Blue central defender spoke to the assembled media following his side’s penalty shootout State Cup Round of 16 victory and discussed his recent chance to play plus the match itself:

“It was a difficult game, but most importantly we won and we can forget about the match that was and think about the next game.”

Getting the chance to play:

“I feel very good here and I’ve now played a lot of games and I can’t wait to play more. I didn’t feel good when I didn’t play once I first came to Israel, but that’s the footballer’s life. Now I’ve gotten a chance and I’ve played every game plus we’ve been winning so that’s good.”

The match against Maccabi Haifa on Monday:

“Every game is very important and we have to win every game.”