Back in 1986/87, Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Maccabi Haifa for the yellow-and-blue's 16th State Cup victory. The match, played at Ramat Gan Stadium in front of 12,000 supporters, was one of the most dramatic finals of all-time.
Maccabi's squad included the likes of Eli Drikes, Avi Cohen zt"l, Moshe Gariani, Alon Natan as well as Benny Tabak who came off of the bench and of course the goalkeeper, Bonni Ginzburg. The first half produced few chances by both sides but the second half will go down in the history books as one of the greatest ever played in finals history!
The action began in the 54th minute when Moshe Gariani opened the scoring. Alon Natan led the attack as Eli Drikes crossed the ball to an oncoming Gariani, who finished off the play by heading the ball into the back of the goal for a 1:0 lead. However, the advantage only lasted 7-minutes as Zahi Armeli beat Ginzburg to even up the score at 1:1.
The Yellow-and-Blue didn't fade after the tying goal as striker Eli Drikes scored, beating the Greens 'keeper Avi Ran zt"l to take a 2:1 advantage in the 72nd minute. But with only five minutes left in regulation time, Haifa evened the score again as Moshe Selecter went high into the air to get Zion Merili's pass and put it into the goal sending the match into extra time.
In extra time it was Haifa who struck first as Armeli put his second goal of the game past Ginzburg, but Drikes made sure that the lead was short lived as his gorgeous scissors kick off of the crossbar went right into the goal. As time ran down in the extra frame the sides began preparing for penalties.
The first two Haifa penalty kicks were pushed aside by Giznburg, who was playing in his last match for Maccabi Tel Aviv. The first was kicked out of the way while the second penalty taken by Armeli was smartly saved as Ginzburg stood his ground.
Finally, the winning kick was taken by veteran striker Benny Tabak who made sure to slot the ball home and bring the State Cup trophy back to Tel Aviv in a decade!
This was not only the last game of Ginzburg's colorful career at Maccabi, but it was also the send off match for Avi Cohen zt"l who left the club and plied his trade with Glasgow Rangers for a short period time before returning home.
