Hello, remember we lost?

The reactions to Haifa's 3:1 against PSG are Israeli defeatism

The carnival before PSG was justified, the excitement about the game was understandable, but why the euphoria and the rant after a loss?

How excited can you be about Abu Fani tackling Neymar, when it wasn't enough?

To the joy of Maccabi Haifa, this team is disconnected from the Israeli tradition

Paz Hasdai

09/17/2022

Saturday, September 17, 2022, 08:00 Updated: 08:19

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Summary of the day in Sport, 16.9 (Sport1)

Paris Saint-Germain returned to Israel this week a few months after playing here in the French Super Cup, and this time they didn't even want to practice before the game.

They didn't have the strength for the mess, the security circles, the police cars and the motorcycles that surround the team bus.

They didn't have the energy to deal with the rush of journalists and photographers, the hundreds of fans creating a commotion, and the feeling as if the Beatles had landed here and not a soccer team for a competitive game.

The excitement is of course understandable.

Even if only Neymar and Kylian Mbappe had landed here there would have been excitement, but Leo Messi arrived here.

It's not a joke.

If Michael Jordan or Roger Federer had come to play here, the enthusiasm would have been similar.

Then came the threatening message of the "green monkeys" against the hitchhikers, and unfortunately, and to my great joy, it seemed to me exaggerated.

When I was young I was on their side, I believed that a "real" fan is only one who holds a subscription, travels to away games, comes to every game, with fire in the water, encourages when it's hard - but the years have passed, and today I'm on the side of the father who wants to take the child to see Messi.

It is allowed to be excited.

The carnival is justified.

You can understand the excited children.

Messi in Israel (Photo: Reuters)

The game began, and the madness continued.

It was impossible not to get carried away.

Really impressive minutes, exciting football, and then an advantage goal.

For 13 minutes, Maccabi Haifa led Paris Saint-Germain, and it was chilling.

disturbed.

Foundational moments, when the entire history of the industry goes through your mind, retracing the path we have taken so far.

Nadav Jacobi and Saghi squeal every time a player of the Israeli team crosses the center line, and it is completely justified.

17.6 percent rating for the game, which is completely justified.

Goldberg tackles Messi, Abu Fani tackles Verratti, Azili steals from Mbappe, Donnarumma stops a huge shot from Sherri, and the spectator screams over and over again, "Wow, what's going on here, what am I seeing here".

The game was over, and it was hard to get the adrenaline down.

It was really a powerful experience.

A combination of great anticipation, an excellent atmosphere and tremendous minutes of football.

But we lost.

The Israeli champion lost.

Maccabi Haifa lost.

And not that the loss is embarrassing, it is of course expected and understandable, there were many moments of pride, but that's how it is in sports, especially in football: there is also a bottom line.

Israel champion lost 3:1.

As the game continued, the differences in levels became apparent.

Again, they are of course understandable, this is definitely one of the best teams in the world, nothing to be ashamed of, PSG easily beats much bigger teams than Maccabi Haifa, but gentlemen, we lost.

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Great game, but is Europe really overwhelmed?

Abu Fani (Photo: Reuters)

If a person were to read the headlines on the sports websites in Israel, without zooming in and going over the fine print, he would assume that there was a major Israeli victory here.

Sentences like "Now Messi, Neymar and Mbappe also know who Neta Lavie is", or "Wow, where did it come from? Europe is shocked by Abu Fani" or "Piero crushed Marquinhos like a child", and other quotes of this type.

And it's not from today that we're football fans, we've already experienced sensational victories by small teams over empires, we've seen surprising teams from Cyprus and Bulgaria in the Champions League, and we don't need to exaggerate, we don't need to argue, we didn't hold our heads all day, we didn't mention the names of the footballers, Europe wasn't shocked

And there would have been a victory, but in this case, as I recall, Maccabi Haifa in general lost.

There is no intention here to diminish Maccabi Haifa, which has a really wonderful team this year.

She is at her peak, she is at her best, with the right energies, the quality staff, the perfect coach.

But how much can you rejoice in a loss?

Can this happen in countries with small teams but sporting pride, like Serbia or Denmark for example, when they are so excited by 3:1 to the opponent?

The easiest thing is to blame the drifting media, which explodes headlines, or the excited commentators - but this time too the media illustrated the mood of the people.

These were the voices and feelings among the fans and the general public.

This was the overall vibe on social media: there was elation.

Before it overcomes strong rivals, it needs to overcome a defeatist mentality inherent in the industry.

Maccabi Haifa (Photo: Reuters)

And it really didn't come from Maccabi Haifa itself, by the way.

The team went into the game full of faith.

Exactly the opposite of the overall slump, Haifa went on to win.

Played strong, tough, without fear, with faith, not closing in panic but initiative, looking for a knockout.

But everything around, everything else, well, traumas of decades are hard to erase.

30 years of disappointments and humiliations in Europe are taking their toll.

Losing the game, and then masturbating all day on repeats of Abu Fani passing Verratti and snatching Neymar.

There was a great fight, but no, we didn't stop Neymar.

In the end he scored a goal (Photo: Reuters)

No, we don't need to get excited about Abu Fani taking a ball to Neymar.

That's not the goal.

The goal is to win.

The goal is 90 minutes of correct closures in defense, from all directions, on all players, a complete game.

And no, we don't need to be moved by a French commentator who was surprised by Maccabi Haifa and says that she will cause a lot of trouble in this house.

And one should not be moved by Christophe Galtier saying before the game "we will meet a tough opponent", because that is what Barak Bacher also said before Ness Ziona.

The goal is to win.

And all the celebration, all the headlines, bring us back to unflattering days, to past clichés, to "I like your number 9".

Maccabi Haifa almost took us forward, the reactions pulled it back.

That's why her task is complex: she has to beat not only strong opponents, but also a mentality that has been instilled in her.

A defeatist Israeli tradition, which is used to miscarriages.

A battered environment, which took countless blows to the head.

A local team that only knows how to cause suffering.

A league that produces local stars, who go to Europe and fail and yet return to huge contracts.

The truth is that the current Haifa can do it, but this week reminded how deep the problem is.

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• Paris Saint Germain