“Brother, Saturday in Beer Sheva. The Match of the Season, but not just any Match of the Season”
You can assume that every conversation began this way over the past two weeks between two friends who have been Maccabi fans since their youth. It’s true that in every single season there are 2-3 matches that can be called the Match of the Season. In fact, every single Championship Playoff contest can be called the Match of the Season and there also plenty of points still left, plus another match against the same club in the second round of the playoffs. But still, it’s not just any Match of the Season. Every Yellow & Blue fan understands this along with the excitement and thoughts that surround it.
At first, you decide not to answer it with much thought, kind of trying to suppress your thoughts and feelings so you can properly analyze the game. Especially when it was two weeks before the actual match, when it was still fairly far off and things hadn’t begun twirling around your head and heart just yet. You can still give yourself a bit more breathing room. Plus it was also the international break so why start getting too involved when it was still so far off.
“Bam, I knew a player would get injured and be out for the match. Plus Tibi’s an important player”
Every Yellow & Blue fan got the same message at 22:20 on Friday night in one of their WhatsApp groups. It’s hard to find a Maccabi fan who isn’t in at least one or more groups with other Maccabi supporters. We live the club 24/7 and it’s part of our day to day life being a Maccabi fan so then we’re definitely in a WhatsApp group. The message already lets you know that there is no place to run or hide but it’s a must to internalize, process and analyze the issue at hand. The Match of the Season is upon us.
You start to go through the Match of the Season in your head, analyzing, rationalizing with your professional abilities what will happen until the final whistle and then what certain results will mean going forward. While you are analyzing the situation, many feelings fill your head, including pride, anxiety, disappointment and joy in this order which keeps repeating itself over and over again.
You can’t really avoid everything, so you try to make some sense of it in your head.
Tibi is hurt, so I’m a little anxious. Golasa, who was fantastic in the last match against Hapoel Beer Sheva has been hurt for some time and we don’t know what his status is. Add another 10 kilos of bad feelings and it’s not an easy task ahead. Beer Sheva has good momentum going for a bit due to wins over Beitar and Haifa, so it’s time to just open the window and stick my head out. But I stop, take a deep breath and begin concentrating on the memories. Oh, what memories. Thankfully I have a team that has been privileged to be in so many situations just like this and there are so many good memories.
You go back to when you were a soldier in Ganei Yehoshua with your friends with a 3 year old boy on your shoulders that you don’t really know, but you want to make sure he gets a good, good look at what is called Maccabi Tel Aviv – for the next generation. And all of this after the 2002/03 match at the end of the season, when you had the same amount of points as the club who had been enjoying a big gap and the best player gets hurt during Money Time. .jpg)
You remember how in the first half you just keep hearing that it’s 1 to Haifa, 2 to Haifa, 3 to Haifa, 4 to Haifa, 5 to Haifa and you go into the break at 0:0 with a cold sweat dripping from your forehead. And then in a minute that changes the whole season and the past seven seasons of waiting, you get the news of an Ashdod goal and you see Prohonenkovs beginning to celebrate.
The memories then move forward a few years. After a decade of suffering you move to February 2013 at Bloomfield Stadium and you can feel that something is in the air and everything is about to change. After so many defeats and humiliations as history puts the Derby results in favor of the Reds, you witness a 4:0 massive Derby win that sets off a streak of three championships in a row and also sets the standard in the city itself for years to come.
You slowly but surely come to your senses after thinking back to those sweet moments, your chest beams with pride. You really understand what it’s like to be Maccabi Tel Aviv. It’s not just a saying but we are the Yellow & Blue empire with amazing fans, an incredible owner and players who the last time they faced the same southern side gave us back our belief while playing with heart, soul and a lot of sacrifice. Even after a rough start to the season, you know that you can go out to war with these players. You realize that love and success to win titles is more than just that, it’s a way of life that no one else will ever understand.
Saturday, Beer Sheva, Match of the Season. You understand that this match is one where we will come home with the points. Only a win will suffice.
