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Ofir Shmueli: "The decision regarding Eran Zahavi should be canceled" - voila! sport

2023-02-09T15:45:25.561Z


When Ofir Shmueli saw as a teenager in 1984 how Beitar Jerusalem lost the championship, he swore that with him on the field it would win. He remembered the good days, in Melmilian


sweet memories.

Ofir Shmoeli (photo: courtesy of the photographer)

"In the 1983/84 season I played in the youth team of Beitar Jerusalem.

At the end of a game at Beit Vagan, I rushed to the YMCA to watch the senior team's game against Hapoel Tel Aviv. Our victory was supposed to guarantee a first championship. I sat with the fans in the stands, I saw Moshe Sinai lead them to a crushing victory 1:3. I sat for a long time with my head down, I said to myself 'Until I, Ofir Shmueli, play in the starting lineup, Beitar won't win the championship.

I believed with all my heart that the fantasy would become reality."



Ofir Shmueli was born on July 28, 1966, married plus five, three daughters and two sons.

Ofir's only sister is the famous singer Aviva Avidan.

Today he runs a fast food chain in Malha mall.

"I live in Jerusalem, from the balcony of my house you can see the Teddy Stadium perfectly. I grew up in the neighborhood of Shmuel the Prophet, and at the age of 7 we moved to Givat Shaul. I went to elementary school at the Moshe Di Noor school.

There was an asphalt field, we added sand, brought bins and like all the children we ran and kicked the ball.

I grew up in a traditional house, a Likudniki house.

Father came from Kurdistan, mother from Syria from the city of Orfa, I'm actually Orfali."



First story in front of Uri Malmilian?



"Beitar's germ stuck to me from home, I was 11 years old when I won the state cup with coach Nissim Bacher in a victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv 1:2 in 1976.

Uri was the idol of the class, boys and girls.

A Malmilian signature was to its holder like a score of 100 in an account.

I told the class that I was going to the YMCA to get his autograph. A girl who was the queen of the class asked me to get Malmilian to sign for her as well. I waited by the laundry room, saw Uri leaving for training on a uniform, and handed him the notebook to sign for me. Uri signed with a smile, I handed him another page , and he pointed out that he had already signed it for me, I quietly and excitedly explained that it was for a girl in the class. I gave her the signature of the million pounds."

there were days.

Shmueli in the national team (photo: Maariv, Adi Avishi)

In the youth team he played under Shmuel Perlman.

"The high school coach David Schweitzer didn't like me, I enlisted for mandatory service and football didn't seem promising to me. One evening I got a call from Danny Neuman who asked me to join him at Maccabi Kiryat Gat of the A League. Neuman made sure to release me from the internships for the games, and later I moved with him to the Ramla football team and to the service Military is more comfortable at the Beit El and Zerifin base."



He later returned to Beitar.

"I went with the team to a training camp in Hungary, which at the time was confiscated from Milian due to a dispute with the club's leaders. I had an excellent training camp, where the fitness coach Itzik Kemari complimented me and asked me to continue working and training because I am on the right path."



And then an exciting meeting in training with Malmilian who tells you unforgettable words for you.



"We finished training, Uri talked to me and asked me a number of questions. He smiled and told me that I was one of our Kurds, and he would take care of and raise me as an actor. Malmilian asked me to be with him on departures to hotels in the same room. I went up to the hotel room scared and ashamed, I couldn't believe that this was reality, Malmilian And I'm in the same room. I was standing in the middle of the room at the Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv. I'm holding two bags and my heart is about to explode with excitement. Uri came up to me, and started laughing when I told him that he got a little angry when I asked him for two autographs as a child. .

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Shmuel was an accomplice.

Uri Malmilian and Avi Cohen lift the trophy, 1989 (Photo: Maariv, Adi Avishi)

In the 1986/7 season, he joined Dror Kashtan's squad and also received a surprising call-up to the national team.

"I managed to win the title of champion in September 1986 with a victory over Hapoel Tel Aviv 1:2. I started the season in the team and after the game in the fourth round against Shimshon Tel Aviv, in which I was excellent, I received a call at night from the manager of the national team Avraham Banduri, that I should come to training tomorrow according to the invitation of The Yugoslav Milanko Mihich. I was shocked, only four games and already an invitation to the Israeli national team. I called our manager Abram Levy in a panic and told him, I asked where to go, to Beitar practice or to the national team practice?

Abram, in his special voice, made it clear to me that tomorrow I will join Eli Ohana and Hanan Azoulai in the car that will go to the team's training."



Here he dwells for a moment on the affair started by Eran Zahavi who is no longer in the national team - the lodging alone.

"Banduri asked at every gathering in Israel or abroad who wanted to be alone in the room.

Many players chose to be alone, to quietly prepare for training or a game without the many phones that came into the rooms, without snoring, to get up calmly, when there is also a religious theme and prayer.

I understand Eran Zahavi, the decision regarding him should be reversed, because what was good 35 years ago is still appropriate today."

Shaped Shmuel, but also convinced him to make a big mistake.

Dror Kashtan, on the left (Photo: Adi Avishi, Maariv)

Dror Kashtan trained him as a player that season, which ended, as Shmuel had promised himself, in the championship.

"He gave me the stage in the team as a defensive midfielder, and occasionally as a defender. Kashtan had dozens of personal conversations with me, stopped a lot of training, explained how to run forward and practiced correct stance at every stage of the game. After all, I was a player who came from the second division."



His glitch became a trademark.

"I really liked these moves, they added to my enthusiasm and athletic braking due to my long legs. It was difficult to pass me from the left side. This part improved from game to game."

Still, he says that those who were players were difficult for him to play against.

Who was the hardest against?

He mentions the agile Itzik Suisa, who played for Maccabi Tel Aviv and Zafarir Holon.



Then came the title.

"After the victory over Maccabi Haifa 1:2 several cycles to the end of the season, I knew that my statement that we would win the championship title when I was in the team was fulfilled and fulfilled."



In 1989 he won another title - the State Cup.

"In the days before the game against Maccabi Haifa, the behavior of the team was not normal. We went out to a restaurant and there were sour faces and arguments about tickets. We arrived at Kfar Maccabiah, as if for another game. In the first half, they could have scored at least six goals or more. Abram Levy's shouts still echo in my ears: "Shame on you To you, your ability today will be a disaster that will be remembered for generations, beware that this game will become your stain for life.'

In the second half, after drama, overtime and penalties, we won.

I was wounded in the face, I was fasting during the festive meal and underwent surgery at Hadassah Ein Kerem.

I woke up with the sports sections of the newspapers, and then a dream week's vacation at the Caesar Hotel in Eilat."



In the national team, he was in the squad for the two matches against Colombia for the qualification for the 1990 World Cup. "In the first match in Barranquilla we lost 1:0, in the tunnel Yitzhak Schnior came up to me and told me 'kid, get ready, you are starting the return game in Ramat Gan in two weeks'. The truth is that we believed we could make a difference in the result , to win and reach the World Cup. Everywhere they were talking about Colombia. Before the second leg in training, S.C. gave me the feeling that I was starting in the team, but on the last day of preparation in Herzliya I did not practice. I was in a hotel room, deep in thought, when Grundman came in and informed me that I was coming up tomorrow. I played, but it ended 0:0 and Colombia advanced."

Shmuel was supposed to be there.

Yaakov Hillel (left) at a ceremony honoring the veterans of Maccabi Tel Aviv last year (Photo: Ariel Shalom)

In March 1990, the team went to a friendly match in Athens against Greece.

"Before the game a man called me who introduced himself as Israel Maoz, I didn't know him and he said he was a player agent who handled the transfer of Eli Ohana to Belgium and other players. He talked about a Belgian team that wanted me and asked me to bring a tape of the game from Athens. I bought a tape at a record store, approached the receptionist and asked Record the game for me. Israel lost 2:1, I brought the tape back to Israel and gave it to a representative of Ma'oz. He and the Belgians were supposed to come to the YMCA for the game against Maccabi Netanya, but they postponed it for the next game in Bloomfield.

Unfortunately for me, I twisted my knee, tore the meniscus, and the Belgian subject became difficult for me."



In the 1990/91 season Beitar was relegated. "She put a release clause of 50 thousand dollars on me.

I was considered a wanted left back.

I had offers from Maccabi Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv of the new coach Avraham Grant, he really wanted me.

I met with chairman Danny Lauper, their offer was financially good, over 60 thousand dollars and good financial grants. I believed that everything was closed and I would play together with Malmilian and Avi Cohen at Maccabi Tel Aviv."



And then the phone from Dror Kasten that changes your entire career.



Kashtan was my greatest coach, and he was appointed to Maccabi Petah Tikva.

Dror asked me to join him.

Lauper and Grant waited a little, they thought there would be a change in me, but they hurried to bring in Yaakov Hillel from Shimson Tel Aviv in my place."



Does this accompany you to this day?



"It was a huge mistake of mine, there was no one to direct me correctly and with determination. I went to a gray and quiet team, with stands almost empty of crowds, and I am a player of crowd and enthusiasm. Maccabi Tel Aviv won the title that season. The rest of my career was less good at Hapoel Be'er Sheva , Beitar Tel Aviv and Bnei Yehuda".

Rocked the locker room.

Avraham Levy (Photo: Maariv, Adi Avishi)

He returned to Beitar. "I returned home, but I injured my Achilles tendon, I had to retire from football at the age of 29, from the ball that was my greatest love.

I also helped Abram Levy with errands, until one day I decided to completely disconnect from football."



Did you turn towards religion?



"Religion was always inside me, I got closer, I'm not ultra-Orthodox.

With the help of my wife Rachel, who supported me, I changed to a religious lifestyle, I went to Torah classes and all with great love."

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  • Beitar Jerusalem

Source: walla

All sports articles on 2023-02-09

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