On November 3, 2004, Baruch Dego signed off on one of the greatest matches in Israeli football history and spoke to the official website about the excitement and anticipation prior to
the big game, how they prepared for the return leg against the Dutch outfit and the similarities between what he experienced and to the current situation:

“At that time we had a lot of faith in ourselves. We were in the top European competition and we had lost three matches in a row but we were full of belief because we had made it into the Champions League.” The midfielder explained after having played three matches in the tournament.

“Just two weeks earlier we had lost 3:0 at the Amsterdam Arena and they made us pay for every mistake we made there. Our preparations for the next match had already begun on the flight home from Holland. Nir spoke to each player one at a time and
explained to us where we had made mistakes and where we needed to improve. Every player took his the comments to heart and went to sleep thinking about the players they would each have to go toe-to-toe against in the coming week. Klinger and his staff kept impressing upon us that we could do it and it gave us a tremendous amount of strength.”

And then in the 49th minute in happened. A deep ball by Avi Strool went to Ishmael Addo. The Ghanian went up high and brought the ball down on the pitch with his head into the space right near Dego in a play that will go down in the annals of Yellow-and-Blue history: “The minute we made it into the Champions League I said to myself that I have to take advantage of every minute on the field and every opportunity that would present itself. When I saw the ball go towards Addo regardless if the ball would get to him or not, I decided that I would run towards that area. That’s football. I went into that play with all my effort and in the end I scored an amazing goal.”

Eleven years have passed and Dego doesn’t forget a moment from scoring the goal. “Goosebumps. It’s a moment that will be with me my whole life. Everything that surrounded this incredible moment was fantastic and I wish every player would have
the opportunity to play in this competition and of course score a goal.”

He was only 22 years old at the time of the match and went through a big learning curve over the first three matches just as Dego explained: “The first three games helped us understand the other teams. We were placed in the “Group of Death” and faced the top European sides where each team already had a European Cup in their trophy case. At the beginning of the tournament we were all in euphoria that here we were playing in front of all of Europe. We came into the game seeing what we could do against the different teams. I’m happy that we were able to figure out how to get a good result in the middle instead of waiting for the end to get some points and goals. After three games we were able to finally figure out how and what to do and we did a lot of work on the mental part of the game along with tactics. You just can’t come and play thinking that we’re a huge club when we are really a small European team. We understood that if we didn’t work hard and keep up with them we wouldn’t be able to get a decent result.”

Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day is when the Jewish People around the world bow their heads to remember those who perished throughout Europe during the early 1940’s. The relationship between the Maccabi Association and Maccabi Tel Aviv is one that will be forever intertwined due to the colors of the club’s jersey.

Yossef Merimovitch Z”TL of Blessed Memory, is personally responsible for the deep ties Maccabi has with the Holocaust. In 1943, Merimovitch, who at the time was one of the stars in Israel, heard about the atrocities that were going on and could not remain indifferent. The striker, who had been scoring goals at a tremendous clip for the side that played in Blue-and-White understood that the Jews of Europe were forced to wear a Yellow Star in order to differentiate them from the others. He asked that the club add yellow to their uniform in order to stand in unity with their brothers and sisters who were being persecuted.

The request didn’t fall on deaf ears and from that day on, yellow has been part of Maccabi and the connection between the club and the Holocaust will always remain as one and the same. This year, Yom HaShoah falls on the exact date that Merimovitch passed away, just five years ago.

Merimovitch began his career as a footballer with Maccabi “Michael”, and immediately impressed the coaches giving him his first start in a Maccabi Tel Aviv kit.

Football was always an important part of the Merimovitch household as his older bother Menachem (Mendele) starred for Maccabi Tel Aviv as well. Menachem represented Israel many times across the ocean and eventually settled in Australia with two other National Team players. Mendele passed away while fighting in the Australian Army at the beginning of World War II.

While his brother was in Australia, Yossele became one of the stars of Israeli football. As a player, Merimovitch won six Championships and six State Cups, a record that still stands. Following his playing career, Merimovitch had plenty of success as a coach winning a title and a State Cup over three different terms with the club. He also led the Israel National Team on two occasions while taking home the Asian Cup once.