Just like 20 years ago, it turns out that a Teddy fiasco after a big game in Europe is a kind of procedure for us. Ya ba ya, what a slaughter. All in all, we wanted to go home safely from Teddy, but we got punched in the stomach in a fall game, a punch that took all the air out of our lungs in a boom, against a team that just cleaned the grass with us.
Barak Becher decided to go with the strongest line-up, more during a fairly distinct lack of trust in his replacements than in giving confidence to the starting line-up. And oh, how much it didn’t pay off…
The same Maccabi Haifa that gave a huge game on Wednesday appeared drained, anemic, when the crowd’s protests didn’t exactly have a positive effect on the general energy index either. I really don’t believe there was any complacency in this game. Maybe a lack of concentration, maybe a sign of general exhaustion, but there was no one who underestimated Maccabi Haifa in this game – and rightly so.
Against an enthusiastic, lively, smart and agile Hapoel Jerusalem, none of our regular and inactive players had an answer. Attack after attack crashed into the breakwater of the Hapoel Jerusalem defense, quite easily one must say. Every offensive attempt was patterned and very slow, no deep movement, no sophistication, no Maccabi Haifa.
And when there is nothing in front, the problems roll backwards with ease, and Hapoel Yerushalayim crushed us with excellent passes, very fast and full of punch. It must be said, the score at halftime even did us a certain favor. Simply nothing and nothing, lethargy that we didn’t believe we had seen at this stage of the season.
The second half, as mentioned, did not produce too great a change, when even the mini-momentum of the pressure and attacks stopped with the sting of the third on the other side of the field. Until the end, we conducted ourselves on the court in a kind of clinical death, the kind of days where you really have no chance of getting the smallest trickle of khair out of them.
I have nothing to point out the culprits, really they were all horrible, and what’s more – Hapoel Yerushalayim was simply great. I have nothing but compliments for this club, a club that is faithful to its path and reaps the rewards of the trust it receives. Their good start to the season is no accident, and they deserve to fight for the top of the year. We didn’t have a miracle, we looked like a big loser. Fortunately, the crazy marathon we’re in is taking a little break, and we’re due for a two-week break.
This is the time, in addition to rest, for deep soul-searching. Maccabi Haifa cannot afford a situation where it has no confidence in the bench and the results it (doesn’t) bring. Even the relatively measured and limited period until November will bring with it more extreme states of exhaustion, and it is impossible to put up with a situation where every injury from the rear link and above will lead to catastrophe and holes as if we are in the season of Marco confusion.
Maccabi Haifa walked a tightrope – and fell right before the other bank. We must remember the painful precedents of the past, shake off the indifference/arrogance and strengthen ourselves with at least two players for the sequel. The current situation of total dependence on the ideas and freshness of the eleven starters is very bad, and has already taken its first and very painful victim.
And hence, the eyes of course for the next game. The predatory Maccabi Tel Aviv arrives in excellent shape for Sami Ofer, in a European game for all intents and purposes. A war of the worlds, a heavyweight battle, a game of the season guaranteed to be smoky, rich in blood and fire. Needless to say, certainly in light of this humiliating loss, how important this game is for the rest of the road and how enormous its moral and practical impact is.
So take 24 hours, as is the best tradition, try to digest this bitter real loss, and start building the hunger, passion and energy that brought us this far. Otherwise, certainly in front of them, it won’t work.
And don’t forget, even on a cool Jerusalem night, with your face between your hands. We love you, we are behind you and with you – until the end.
Good break, good luck to the Israeli team.
