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Alon Mizrahi celebrates 50: "Berkowitz has been waiting for me at West Ham, it hurts to this day"

The plane celebrates 50 and opens everything.

On Zehavi: "I do not recall what I said. In our time there were 10 Zehavi."

On Spiegel: "The greatest coach of all."

On the 11th of all time: "Ohana and Revivo by my side on offense" and on the unrelenting heartache: "Giving up the record for a European career I deserved"

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• Mizrahi Oak

Yaniv Tuchman

Monday, November 22, 2021, 10:00 p.m.

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Summary: Maccabi Haifa - Urbani Kiryat Shmona 0: 4 (Sport 1)

On the morning of last Friday,

was busy. He already has two married daughters, from one he also has a grandson, but over the weekend he was a lot with his youngest son who came home from the military. "He told me he did not want to be a Jobnik in the army. That he wanted to do something meaningful, so he is in combat engineering and comes home once every three weeks so I was with him a lot," the plane apologized and explained why I had a hard time catching him in the hours before Shabbat.

"Listen, obviously 50th birthday is neither 30 nor 40. Being 50 is something else already, but to tell you the truth, I do not feel 50. I feel exactly as I felt when I was 30. Life goes by very fast. At a crazy pace. "Many years ago, people would say about a 50-year-old that he is old. Today they say it is still a young age. It is very exciting to reach that age."

"I would like to achieve more, probably in my career."

"True, it's a lot. The name goes before me and I did beautiful things but on the other hand I missed Europe a bit. It hurts me that I could not reach my potential in one of the best leagues in Europe. West Ham and Aston Villa wanted me. Especially West Ham who offered £ 5 million for me "8 million pounds and did not agree to compromise."

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Celebrating 50. Mizrahi (Photo: Berni Ardov)

Ability to collaborate with Eyal Berkowitz there.

"Exactly and that bothers me. West Ham chief executive Peter Story has already met with owner Primo Salby in Nice. The meeting was in Monte Carlo to close the deal. My Krauss employee My agent was present at the meeting and an employee was shocked by the amount demanded by Primo Salby. You see West Ham have offered £ 5 million. It was a lot of money. There were headlines in the Sun: 'The plane is going to play with the Wizard of Watsham'. But it fell apart and it still annoys me. I worked all my life to get to a senior league like England. I had this chance and it was only because of the decision of the club president that I was not able to realize it. "

"Absolutely. I was so confident in my ability to succeed at the highest levels. I played for the Israeli team then and I was at my peak. Berkovich, Haim Revivo and Tal Benin played alongside me who went out to beautiful careers in Europe and I was convinced I would go too. So yes, I went to Nice and tasted some "Not enough. In Nice I scored five goals in five months and it helped the team stay in the second division. They saw how much I helped them stay in the league and insisted on not selling me for £ 5 million."

"Very much, but he believed he would get more out of West Ham and negotiated to the end to get more out. The one who was hurt in the end was me. I could quietly play in England and earn completely different sums. I knew how to score goals and did it for both the national team and Maccabi Haifa in the European framework."

"You're right. There were all sorts of internal corruption issues there. I had a contract for another 3 years there and the management just changed and they threatened I would not play if I insisted on staying because I was affiliated with Primo Salby. Everyone who came through Primo was hurt and I was not sold to West Ham I did not enjoy staying in Nice. An offer from Gad Zeevi's Betar Jerusalem had just arrived and I decided at the age of 28 to return to Israel very quickly.

Betar offered a really tempting contract for three years. They made a very strong team there and offered me $ 280,000 which was a lot of money at the time. I said to myself: 'Alon, you tried your luck in Europe and did not go. At least take the high contract offered by Betar.

"So I went back to Betar. The decision of the club president ended me."

"Eyal told me 'Alon, if you come, you will score like in Maccabi Haifa'" (Photo: GettyImages, Stu Forster)

Berkowitz said then that if you play before him at West Ham you will score a lot.

"Eyal said to me then: 'Alon, if you come, you will score like in Maccabi Haifa.' And he played with me in the biggest season 1993/4 in Maccabi Haifa when I scored 28 goals. "Peter Story has already arrived in France, so you will understand how serious West Ham were about me. Eyal was waiting for me at West Ham and he also hurt that I did not come."

"Absolutely. I recently met Oved Kraus and he reminded me of it. I said to him: 'Oved, do me a favor. Let's not talk about it. It annoys me very much.' Who knows where I would go? I was also very financially hurt, not to mention For prestige. "

"If I remember correctly Eyal earned a million pounds at West Ham. After that he went to Celtic and Manchester City and has already earned two or three million pounds. That's a lot of money. If in the country I earned $ 300,000 with degrees, imagine what I could earn in England."

Everyone thinks an Mizrahi questionnaire is alive about the 207 goals he scored and made him the all-time top scorer of Israel, but deep down you never stop to think that you should and could play in Europe at the expense of that number here in Israel.

"You are absolutely right. It's just like that. I would have given up the record for a European career I deserved. When I returned to Israel to Betar Jerusalem, I told myself that what was left for me was to at least break the record here after failing to realize myself abroad. In contrast. To Berkowitz or Revivo who did not come here well and quickly retired, I returned from Europe and made an excellent career continuation here and then I also broke the record for goals.At least I had a challenge - to be Israel's top scorer. "

"Certainly. The late Arik Henig and Yoram Zack also made a film about me then that accompanied me towards breaking the record.

The two goals that brought me to first place with 196 goals along with Oded Makhanes, were in the Hatikva neighborhood.

We defeated Bnei Yehuda 1: 6 in the neighborhood and I was at Hapoel Beer Sheva with Eli Gutman.

We did a great season.

I scored 12 goals that season.

A week later we went to play in Kiryat Eliezer against Bnei Sakhnin.

We won 0: 1 from my goal in the 84th minute.

There I broke the record and positioned myself at the top with 197 goals.

After that I added another 10 goals at Hapoel Beer Sheva and retired with 207 goals.

Eli Zeno was the chairman.

That was before Alona Barkat. "

"One of my biggest mistakes when I left Maccabi Haifa for Maccabi Tel Aviv" (Photo: Maccabi Haifa)

You grew up in Bnei Yehuda, you gained a lot in Betar Jerusalem, you broke the record at Hapoel Beer Sheva, but you are still most identified with Maccabi Haifa.

"I started in Bnei Yehuda. I even participated and won the historic championship in 1990. Although I did not win because I was really only 18 years old, but I got to play ten games in the senior team uniform. Can't remember because I was a kid but this is a championship I consider it. Not like the championship with Maccabi in '94 but still a championship. After that season I had two years in Bnei Yehuda that I took twice the king of league goals and then I went to Maccabi Haifa in 1993. It was a magical season with 39 games without a loss that season. "

" This is one of my big mistakes that I left Maccabi Haifa for Maccabi Tel Aviv. I took the biggest championship there was in the country and I was the star of the team and the executor. "Maccabi Tel Aviv offered me more money and Maccabi Haifa did not fight me anymore."

"That was the fact. If after such a great season of mine, Maccabi Haifa did not fight for me, that means a lot. They brought Ofer Sheetrit to my plate. Revivo also played half a striker. But they could not win a championship. Maccabi Haifa did not fight me enough and Maccabi Tel Aviv bought me for $ 280,000. "

"It's true and the fact that I helped them a lot to win the state cup and we reached the quarterfinals of a cup in Europe with Duchamp Ohrin. I took the top scorer again at Maccabi Haifa and I was also captain."

"Nice was then a subsidiary of Rome and I made an account that I would score in the second division in France and they would want to buy me from other clubs and the fact that the offers came from England. Look, I really wanted to get out of here. "Amsalem, Jean Telsnikov, Walid Badir, my father is a member. And I also wanted to go out. I wanted to taste this thing."

"In our time there were ten Eran Zehavi" (Photo: Reuters)

Say, the whole story with Eran Zehavi did not go out of proportion.

You do not ask yourself why I even got into this fight with him?

"Absolutely not. There are sporting rivalries all over the world between players. I never said their hair is not an actor. I just gave facts and the media found it appropriate to do so for good reason and that's fine. There were also slanders between Pele and Maradona. That's the beauty of football. "He must have liked it. In the past, he opened up about me and also about Berkowitz. He did not speak well in a newspaper article. I do not regret for a moment everything I said about him."

"Certainly. To this day I say that. I even strengthen my words. In our team on each slot there were four good players. In my time, strikers like Eli Ohana and Ronen Harazi played. Are there any such strikers today? In our time there were ten Eran Zehavi."

"He has no competition at all. Does he have Roni Rosenthal, Yossi Benyon or Haim Revivo? Obviously he will be dominant. There is nothing to compare in periods. Eran Zehavi is a great player but he grew up in a time when no one is threatening his place. Eran played in China for four years and scored 150 goals. "There were players much bigger than him who left their mark on European football. Berkowitz, Revivo and Yossi Benyon were certainly much bigger than him. Eli Ohana too."

"What was between him and Motla was very respectable. Really. But Eran's exiles didn't get us anywhere. I also finished a campaign once as the top scorer. Although I only scored six goals. But we got to the crossroads. We did something. My success was team and that's it. More considered. "

"If I had scored 30 goals in the Chinese league? Obviously" (Photo: Maccabi Haifa)

Do you underestimate what he did on the team?

"Absolutely not. It's very beautiful. But we came in second place from the European house and they are not."

"Absolutely not. I will also tell you something else about the team. I do have 17 goals in the team but I only have 37 appearances while Eran has 70 and Mutla 82. The amount of goals I scored in minutes places me in the first trio with Shia Glazer and Shia Feigenbaum."

"I said it was very nice to see what their hair did. I praised him. More than that. If he comes back to Israel and passes me with his 125 compared to my 207, I will know how to praise him very much. big".

"In some years, Eran thought he was the greatest of them all. He did not understand that he was not Israel's greatest player. He wrote in an article that he was the greatest Israeli and I say where did you go? You are not there. "He went to China and made good money, but let's not cheat there in China."

"Obviously. This is a Chinese league. Relax. Where did you go? I saw this league. Low goalkeepers, no defenses. Other than money you should not take anything from there."

"I do not take for a moment the great expatriates in the team in the last qualifiers. But it still does not place him higher than Berkowitz, Benyon, Revivo and Ohana."

"Brought Europe to Israel."

Spiegel (Photo: Bernie Ardov)

Let's talk a little about your exiles. Which is the most beautiful?

"There were two very beautiful ones. One at Maccabi Haifa in '93 in the first round against Betar Jerusalem Teddy from a distance. And there was a goal in the midweek round in the hope in the Bnei Yehuda uniform that I passed half of the players and scored. But my most special goal was at Parma with Maccabi Haifa. It was then one of the best clubs in Europe with Brolin, Aspria, Dino Baggio, Benario. The best players in the world and we won there 0: 1 and only lost on penalties. I kicked a penalty there, but the goal I scored there in the field and in the league, which were then the best in Europe, was something special. They gave a play there with Eyal, Reuven Atar, Alon Hazan, Alon Harazi. In the penalties we missed and flew. We have proven ourselves at the highest levels. I also had two very important goals with Maccabi Haifa against PSG. "

bring

"Giora Spiegel. Giora brought Europe to Israel. Tactical training, nutrition, weight, morning training. He brought a lot of things from Italy. Marigo Saki. Giora knew how to play against stars and in '94 it was just a group of stars at Maccabi Haifa. "He spat on Berkowitz while playing? Only Giora could make a sulha between them in front of us all at the Dolphin restaurant in Bat Galim in Haifa because he was a star and knew how to talk to us all."

"Of course I will say Yaakov Shachar, but I also find it appropriate to pardon Gad Sulami. He paid less, but the money was always on time. There are a lot of good owners in football today like Alona Barkat and Mitch Goldhaar."

"Knows how to deal with stars in big clubs."

Bachar (Photo: Berni Ardov)

Wasn't it natural for you to work for Maccabi Haifa after retiring?

"There was always talk and I started working as a pioneer coach. It could be that coaches feared my dominance even though I always stated that I did not want to coach."

"Very. Great option. You have to understand that today there are seven professionals on the pitch. One coach can not handle all the burden."

"Barak Bachar. He knows how to deal with stars in big clubs. He knows how to be a psychologist. If you do not want Berkowitz as the national team coach, they will give Barak and not a foreign coach. Roni Levy is also a good coach."

"I choose from those I saw the same games or the ones I played with. Goalkeeper Avi Ran, left-back Pizanti defender, right-back Alon Harazi, brakes the late Avi Cohen and Arik Benado.

Contacts Tal Benin, Benyon and Berkowitz.

Upstairs I'm at the top and next to me are Eli Ohana and Haim Revivo. "

" Guy Yitzhak from Maccabi Petah Tikva was a star but he was unlucky.

Wounded a lot.

Is there anyone in the league today at the level of Guy Yitzhak?

Today you live on San Menachem in the national team without replacements.

In my time there were David Amsalem, Njuan Grave, Adoram Casey, Dedi Ben Dayan.

Do you compare? "

Misses training and games.

Mizrahi (Photo: Adrian Herbstein)

What calms you down after a hard day?

"Good for my kids."

"Bad news."

"For the daily training, for the game itself. For the players in the locker room, for the crowd."

"I always try to think positive. If I'm angry, I try not to show it. If I'm not good in a certain place, I get up and go."

"Even if there is, I will never say."

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