May 4, 1977. Maccabi Tel Aviv played away at Kfar Saba in the State Cup semifinals. Yaacov Grondman’s Yellow-and-Blue came into the match after falling at Beitar Tel Aviv 1:0 in league play. On the other side of the pitch, Kfar Saba had just won their league match by the score of 7:1 and entered the contest brimming with confidence.
Grondman opened the match with a very strong starting XI that included Avi Cohen Z”L, Avi Cohen the Jerusalemite, Miko Belo, Vicki Peretz and Benny Tabak. 2500 fans filled the stadium waiting to see what Dror Kashtan had planned against their Yellow-and-Blue.
“Grondman’s team opened the match with terrific momentum,” one of the journalists noted the morning after as he described the pressure Vicki Peretz, Benny Tabak and Moshe Mizrachi put on the Kfar Saba keeper Schwartz. The pressure paid off in the 9th minute when Peretz broke free in the center of the pitch, as Mizrachi played give and go with him going forward. Tabak trailed right behind and Peretz sent the F-15 a beauty of a ball in the center of the box for him to easily score his first of the match.
Just minutes later, Tabak attempted to return the favor to Peretz as he slotted the ball just wide by the far post as Maccabi took a 1:0 lead into the break. As soon as the second half started the Yellow-and-Blue doubled their score as Peretz took a scintillating shot at the goal. Kfar Saba defender Hillel blocked the ball, but it went right to Tabak’s feet as he had no problem putting home his second goal of the match.
At the end of 90 minutes, Grondman’s side punched their ticket to the semifinals of the State Cup where they defeated Maccabi Netanya 6:1 and went on to beat Beitar Tel Aviv 1:0 as they returned the Cup to their trophy case.
