April 12th, 1988. Maccabi Tel Aviv visited Hapoel Akko in the first round of the State Cup. On paper it looked like the Cup holder’s would have no problem advancing to the next round, especially against a side from the Artzit League.
1,500 fans, most of them locals, came out to what was for them a big party, as they settled into their seats to see their Yellow-and-Blue heroes: The young Eli Drikes, Menashe Shamonov, Moshe Griani, Alon Natan and Benny Tabak all started for Speigel and Bar Nur.
As soon as the whistle was blown to start the match, Maccabi pressured the Akko goal looking to score early and solidifying their place in the next round. However, they weren’t able to find a way past the Akko defense and the half ended goalless.
But it took just two minutes into the second half for Maccabi to take a 2:0 lead. The first goal came from a Drikes cross that Griani headed into the goal and the second off of a penalty called when Benny Tabak was fouled in the box. Alon Natan took the 11-meter kick and scored to give the Yellow-and-Blue what looked to be an insurmountable advantage. Bar Nur and Spiegel assumed that the match was all but over, until out of nowheres Akko scored a 66th minute spot kick from the foot of Dor Halfon and Nisim Edri evened the score at 2:2 in the 88th minute forcing the match to extra time.
Three minutes into the extra frame, Akko completed the turnaround scoring from a Dor Halfon penalty for his second goal of the evening. You couldn’t miss the cheering in favor of Akko at this point but Shamonov silenced the crowd in the 111th minute to send the deciding match to Bloomfield Stadium.
Even though Maccabi had found a way back into the match, Bar Nur summed up his disappointment, saying, “We simply had no desire.”
April 19th, 1988. A week after the disappointing draw in Akko, Speigel and Bar Nur decided to make wholesale changes in the lineup that couldn’t find a way to win in the first leg. On the other side of the pitch, Akko came into the match with a lot of expectations and fantasizing that they could be a Cinderella story.
The Yellow-and-Blue pressed Akko right from the beginning of the game and in the 16th minute, Eitan Levy gave Maccabi a 1:0 lead and significantly reduced the stress and pressure that was all over his coaches. That first goal led to four more with Benny Tabak scoring a hat-trick and Drikes picking up one as well, to give the home side the 5:0 win and a date with Hapoel Jerusalem in the Round of 16. How did the journey end? With a 2:1 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv and back-to-back State Cups.
