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Diamonds forever: Netanya and 14 more? | Israel today

2021-10-22T11:23:51.590Z


"Bnei Lem's appointment as coach is the most romantic I can remember," says Eyal Segal, the owner of Maccabi Netanya.


1.

Maccabi Netanya has not won championships here for almost 40 years.

In fact, in the summer of 1983, with Motla Spiegler as coach ("Netanya and 15 more"), that Netanya ended its role as the best football team in Israel.

It was the fifth championship in total, and since then her voice has died down.

Eyal Segal, the owner of Maccabi Netanya, gave the final okay two weeks ago that brought Bnei Lam, one of the stars of that great era, to the club, this time as head coach of the senior team.

The return of Lem, an emotional guy in his own right, brought the city madness and excitement, and almost 10,000 spectators came on Saturday to the game against Maccabi Tel Aviv, which ended in a crazy and unexpected result - 2: 4 to Netanya, and a dream opening for Lem.

Owner faculty has known Lem since he was a child, from the playground of Barry Elementary School.

Lem is a year older than him, and Segal remembers that at 2 p.m. every day, after school, he would go with his friends to see the alumni training at the "box" field.

Lem grew up in the Sela neighborhood to a Tripolitian mother and an Ashkenazi father, a colorful man who drove a taxi and accompanied my son to every game, but died and did not get to see his son on his big day this week.

A faculty member who was fascinated by Malam as soon as he saw him.

He was a classic No. 10, he had penalty kicks and corner kicks at the experience level.

He is the first player in the country to use the False kick, with the outside of the shoe.

Three of the team's five championships are registered in his name - 1978, 1980, 1983.

When he left Netanya, he played a little more in the lower leagues, and when he retired from the game, he moved to coach the club's youth team.

In the summer of 1995, Netanya did not know whether to laugh or cry: the seniors were relegated, but the youth team, with coach Lem, won the championship - its last to date.

For many years he worked for Betar Tobruk, on the other side of the city. He returned to coach the youth when the German-Jew Daniel Yamar bought the club. Yaakov Shachar, with a great salary and a guaranteed economic future Last summer, they wanted Lem back in their youth in Netanya, but Shachar exercised the option on him in Haifa.

As early as last season, the staff had doubts about the then coach, the Dutchman Raymond Atwald, but he did not intervene because there was a majority on the board that supported the continuation of Atwald's employment.

Netanya started this season badly, and still Segal preferred that the decision on the change come from Atwald's supporters.

He knew that the change would have to be made in two possible time windows of the team break - in the fifth round of the league, or in the ninth round.

It really happened after the fifth cycle.

Netanya lost at home to Hadera 2: 0, and in the next game, in Sakhnin, the two assistant coaches, Ron Kozuk and Yuval Azaria, were already on the lines.

In the meantime, they made a call to Netam in Netanya, who was with the Haifa youth in a game in Europe.

He asked to think, and even when he returned with a positive answer, he asked the leaders of Netanya to allow him to meet Yankele Shachar physically and ask for his release.

Lem returned to Israel on Friday, and on Sunday he met Shahar and received from him the blessing of the road.

Segal asked Malam to maintain wireless silence, and called Shahar himself to hear his consent with his own ears.

Shahar confirmed.

Segal says that Shachar was a gentleman, but mentions that Netanya, at the time, also released Reuven Atar and Uri Erel, who is in charge of physiology, to Maccabi Haifa.

"In the end, I am a romantic man," says Segal, "and this is the most romantic appointment I can remember for years. We are tired of all the laptop coaches. "In Netanya, this is what is written in movies and books. I did not think last Saturday that this would be the result against Maccabi Tel Aviv, but that was my dream."

• • •

2.

This week I was called by Elon Schwager, a former Bnei Yehuda player, and who grew up in Maccabi Haifa and was promoted to the youth team along with Arik Benado. He called after reading the column from last Friday about the defense problems in the Israeli team, and asked to speak. He is the son of the late Yeshayahu Schwager, one of the greatest brakemen who played here, especially at Maccabi Haifa, and of course at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. The Israeli brakeman punched and refused to exchange a shirt with him at the end.

Schwager, who died of a heart attack at the age of 54, was an Israeli hero.

During the Yom Kippur War, he entered a minefield and rescued a member of his unit.

He fought in the Golan, was absent for several days and is considered dead.

On one Saturday at that time, Maccabi Haifa moved its home game from Haifa to Kfar Blum, to allow thousands of reservists to come down from the Golan Heights and watch the game.

Schwager arrived, took off his military uniform, put on the team clothes and went up to play.

When the game was over, he put on his uniform and returned to his unit.

Schwager Jr. founded the Defense Minister academy a decade ago, where he personally teaches and coaches young players, as well as Premier League players seeking to improve their defensive game.

It has an age-appropriate program, with a practical and theoretical protocol.

He met with professional teams in Premier League teams, and suggested they implement the plan.

Everyone was impressed, but no one applied.

I asked him why.

"In the end, it's always stopped because of internal corporate politics," he said.

"People wonder why we are constantly getting exiles from stationary situations, from the same mistakes for 20 years. The answer is simple: we teach offense, but do not teach defense. In the final minutes tired players make their basic mistakes. Most defensive players in Israel are foreigners: player ownership. One foreigner can fund a program for a decade here. "

Aviadp65@gmail.com

Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2021-10-22

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