Tiktukno: Summary of today's events in sports, 3.11 (Sport1)
On December 21, 1983, a match took place in Seville as part of the last round of Euro 84 qualifiers, in which Spain hosted Malta.
Apparently, not a game that is widely talked about, but at that time there were not 24 teams playing in the European Championship, but only 8, and Spain's opponent for promotion from home was the Netherlands, who led the night of the match with the advantage of victory and a significant goal difference, such that Spain had to win with a difference of 11 goals to eliminate him and pass her by.
Spain led 0:1, conceded an equalizing goal, led at halftime only 1:3, but in the second half smelled the opportunity and pressed the pedal.
Whether it was on purpose or not (allegations of talks between the parties at halftime, of increased drinking of water on the part of the Spaniards to obscure traces of stimulant drugs), in the 84th minute the score was 1:12, and Spain was on the verge of a goal for the European Championship, in the next championship Holland Already won the title.
Ended an excellent campaign as a punching bag.
Maccabi Haifa players (Photo: Liron Moldovan)
It seems to me that more than Maccabi Haifa had a hard time containing the magnitude of the event it got into somewhere at the end of August, it had a hard time containing the event that happened yesterday above its head.
The charming team from Haifa, who played brave football, and refused to give up in front of their opponents, found themselves reluctantly in the disgraceful image of Malta, a clumsy partner in the role of cannon fodder in the fight for goal difference between two superpowers in European football.
And all this is not even for a place in the European Championship, but for the right not to meet Manchester City in the round of 16.
The joy of Benfica footballers at the end was illusory, for them Maccabi Haifa was transparent, and the 13 goals that Josh Cohen conceded in 8 days reflected its true status that became clear at the end of the campaign: nothing more than a punching bag.
PSG's claims (which scored seven goals against Haifa last week) that the extra time in Sami Ofer (which also gave Benfica a chance to score Joao Mario's decisive goal) was unnecessary and a bit suspicious, all of this on the head of the champion Poor Israel,
A year ago, UEFA canceled the decision on away goals in the event of a tie on goal difference, something that creates competition until the last moment and prevents the use of bench players, but this is also what led to the fact that Haifa did not benefit from Dean David's away goal in the fight against Juventus for third place. The ironic It is that in order to break the tie between Benfica and PSG, UEFA used the number of away goals of each team relevant to the fight for first place...
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Does not belong to these levels.
Raz Meir (Photo: Maor Alxalsi)
This will not be the first time, but maybe the last this season, where we will talk about the huge gap between Maccabi Haifa's bench and its first team.
In the absence of the injured Daniel Sondgren and Dolev Haziza, not to mention the absence of Dylan Batinsica, Haifa went into the game against Benfica's best team since the Josevio days, being incredibly well prepared.
The team is missing, and players who are not at the same level, not only create a huge gap between the lineups, they lower the team's confidence to play their game, and Haifa insisted on playing their game yesterday as well, but much less well.
This is not an excuse, Raz Meir does not belong to these levels, and Abdulai Sak proved in the last two games that he may be an advantage in attack, but nothing in defense, which also lowered the level of Sean Goldberg who probably enjoyed the great photo, in Haifa and in the national team, of Palanich, Dylan and Miguel Vitor.
When you are exposed, and sometimes have difficulty crossing the half, you also discover that the goalkeeper is not at the level of the Champions League.
Maccabi Haifa, for the third time in the Champions League in 20 years, cannot build a team for the group stage of the Champions League, it is unnecessary and wasteful, and especially not fair to the permanent and loyal staff of the club.
To remind you, Maccabi Tel Aviv signed Frederic Raykovic instead of Juan Pablo after promotion to the group stage in 2015, and still conceded 16 goals, without Raykovic winning a championship title during his time in Israel, and creating no difference between them and his Spanish predecessor.
No one will remember that Maccabi Haifa was with Messi in the same house.
It does not interest Europe (Photo: Reuters)
The Champions League was and probably will be in the near future, given the difficulties to qualify for it, an opportunity for Israeli teams to cover losses and straighten their financial back, and nothing more.
Maccabi Haifa had a chance to reach the Europa League, but it was not because it was unprecedented in this house, but because Juventus was as "weak" as it, and even more so.
Teams that continue to the Europa League with 4 points say a lot about the one that finishes last, in this case Juve reaches the Europa League with 3 points.
The way for Israeli teams to do something more significant in the factory is to qualify for it every season.
In order for this to happen, Israel needs to do its scoring, which will allow it to compete in fewer stages and with priority in the draws, and this is done in the European League or the less powerful Conference League, not in the group stage of the Champions League.
Haifa should keep their fingers crossed for Hapoel Be'er Sheva and Villarreal tonight, because another Israeli score improves their chances of reaching the Champions League in the future, to strengthen, and to produce a higher quality team that will be able to compete at these levels.
Each team that played against Maccabi Haifa in the group stage has between 9 and 11 players who are on the expanded rosters for the World Cup that will open in two and a half weeks, most of them will also play in the World Cup.
In Maccabi Haifa, Abdoulaye Sek is in the super extended squad of Senegal for the World Cup, and it is doubtful that he will be among the 23 Senegalese who will be there.
This is the essence of the difference in levels.
Haifa attracts players from senior second leagues, from teams at the bottom of the FIFA rankings, is limited in the amount of foreigners, and this competition - we must say - is not fair for any Israeli team. The great benefit of an Israeli team in qualifying for the Champions League is the money, and the experience for spectators, but for Israeli football, in the long run - This is more harm than good. What will they remember in Europe from Maccabi Haifa in this campaign? The first half against PSG, the first half and the victory over Juventus, or will they remember that they fell apart at home 6:1 in a game where the goal difference determined who would finish first At home? No one will remember that she was drawn at home where Messi, Neymar and Mbappe played in the same team and Juventus scored only 3 points. Europe is not interested in that.
They created a very high standard.
Maccabi Haifa fans (photo: Maor Alxalsi)
And yet, it was a great campaign for Maccabi Haifa, who reached these stages after being unranked against Olympiakos and Red Star Belgrade, and managed to move them out of the way, with outstanding football displays.
The 0:4 in Piraeus and the 2:2 in Hargesh in Belgrade gave Maccabi Haifa the qualification to be a Champions League team.
To be a team in the last eight of the Champions League, you need much, much more.
Haifa scored 7 goals in the group stage, more than a goal per game, played attacking football, looked for the goal, but mostly lacked the ability to keep up with the murderous pace and of course the clutch players who would make the difference.
Franzi Piero, whose arrival made a big splash, as well as his five goals in the qualifiers, proved to be almost useless in the battles against stoppers of the best teams on the continent.
Omar Atzili who is good in the league, very good, was not good enough to start some of the games in the Champions League.
Dean David, who does more work and also moves in depth, was preferred over him.
The problem is that Dean David is not a typical continental striker, and what you can do with the heel in the league cannot be done in the pass to the far corner in the Champions League.
The defense conceded 21 goals, 13 in the last two games.
Dylan was a worthy replacement for Palanich, Neta Lavi and Ali Mohamed looked great in the midfield, but the numbers do not speak in the team's praise.
Only Viktoria Plzen and Rangers suffered more than Haifa in the group stage, they didn't get a point either.
And yet, in the ranking of the most successful campaigns of an Israeli team in the Champions League, Maccabi Haifa's campaign in 2002/3, Hapoel Tel Aviv's campaign in 2009/10 and Maccabi Tel Aviv's campaign in 2004/5 will be ahead.
The first two had less threatening opponents, Maccabi Tel Aviv, with a composition of mostly home-grown players and not national team players, had 4 points at the home of Bayern, Juventus and Ajax.
Still, if it weren't for the bad taste from the last game, this Maccabi Haifa campaign would have been defined as very successful.
sport
Israeli soccer
Super League
Tags
Maccabi Haifa
Barak Bacher