In second place: As Maccabi's municipal rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv were enjoying their best season ever, along came the match that provided the yellow half of Tel Aviv with some hope of recovery
The 1999/2000 season diary
It would be hard to imagine a more disastrous start to Maccabi Tel Aviv's 1999/2000 season. A huge shadow hung over the club throughout that summer after a routine check revealed that Maccabi midfielder Kfir Edry had tested positive for drugs. The "Ephedrine affair", so-called for the stimulant found in his blood, cost the club a four-point reduction and a NIS 100,000 fine. Edry was handed a six-match ban and the club's physical fitness coach was suspended for two years. If that opening wasn't bad enough, the season saw a growing tide of discontentment among the fans with then head coach Avraham Grant, who was sacked at the end of the season in favour of the then Israel coach Shlomo Sharf. As Maccabi struggled to keep a safe distance from a relegation zone that in 1999/2000 included three clubs, their municipal archrivals Hapoel Tel Aviv cruised to their first league and Cup double since the establishment of the State of Israel. It seemed that things could hardly get worse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv1_MCJEzmc&feature=youtu.be
The 1999/2000 derby diary: Maccabi Tel Aviv 2 Hapoel Tel Aviv 0
After completely dominating the Tel Aviv derbies in the first half of the 90's, Maccabi had descended into a run of eight consecutive municipal square-offs without a win. The club's previous sense of superiority had made way for a paralytic anxiety that affected both players and fans alike. Even though the first derby of the year in November ended in a 1-1 draw, Maccabi's season was going badly and the club saw the spectre of the drop-zone looming around every corner. By contrast Hapoel Tel Aviv were leading the pack and the week of the second derby saw their nearest rivals, Maccabi Haifa, draw their match against Ashdod FC. A win against Maccabi would increase their lead at the top of the Israeli Premier League to three points. But Maccabi's Alexei Kosulapov had other ideas.
Man of the match: Alexei Kosulapov
Russian midfielder Alexei Kosulapov had arrived to Maccabi from Spanish side Sporting de Gijon by way of FC Lokomotiv Moscow and was charged with dealing with the league's best midfield that included Hungarian international Istvan Pisont and Croatian international Dean Racunica. Under Kosulapov's leadership, Maccabi pressed from the very opening moments of the match and in the 17th minute they caught the Hapoel defence off guard and took a 1-0 lead. Fifteen minutes later, Kosulapov, who wore the captain's band on the night, got his head to a David Revivo corner and doubled Maccabi's advantage. After having scored in the derby a season earlier, Kosulapov once again injected a shot of adrenalin into a season suffering from sustained clinical depression, and only in retrospect of a league title three years later did many realise how much that one evening provided the club with the hope of recovery.
