Premier League Goal of the Season Clip (Sports1)
May 15 is a date that does not mean too much to the general public of football fans in Israel, but for Maccabi Haifa fans it is a date that will remain forever in the annals of the club. Tonight (Monday, 20:30 p.m.) the Greens will take on a game where a win equals a third consecutive championship and another star above the icon, but for the fans it's also an opportunity to turn May 15 from a dark and sad day into a happy one.
13 years ago, Maccabi Haifa arrived at Bloomfield Stadium to meet Bnei Yehuda in the final round of the 2009/10 season, knowing that a win would give them the championship. At the end of 90 minutes, about 10,000 fans remained covered in the stands for many hours, following a 1:1 draw that allowed Hapoel Tel Aviv to wave the plate at the last minute. For the green fans and club members from Carmel, that May 15 became a cursed date that is hard to forget to this day.
May 15, 2010: A black day in the history of Maccabi Haifa (Photo: Bernie Ardov)
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A traumatic evening. Maccabi Haifa fans after that draw in Bloomfield (Photo: Bernie Ardov)
"There is no doubt that this is my hardest day as a fan," recalls Maor Asulin, who was in the Bloomfield stands at the time and will arrive at Netanya Stadium this evening. "Maybe today we can finally make amends and take a championship with a win on that date. I'm sure I'd love for this date to remind me of a happy event and not just a trauma." In messages sent in recent days, Maccabi Haifa fans made it clear to the players that it was time to do exactly what Asulin hoped for.
"None of us were part of that game, but we understand that the fans are afraid just to hear the date," says a Maccabi Haifa player. "We've broken a lot of barriers this year, so it's time to break that barrier too."
Caught a day, and left Maccabi Haifa fans traumatized. Ran Kadosh (Photo: Bernie Ardov)
Will the correction be achieved tonight? (Photo: Maor Elkeslassy)
The situation, it is important to note, is different from that game against Bnei Yehuda, because even a loss to Maccabi Netanya tonight and a victory by Hapoel Be'er Sheva over Maccabi Tel Aviv in the parallel game, will leave the champions with a chance to defend their title in a home game against Hapoel Jerusalem in the final round. But it only makes sense that for the fans it would be symbolic to win the championship on the very date that appears in their nightmares, and is remembered as historic – in the positive sense of the word – for Ran Kadosh, the goalkeeper of Bnei Yehuda that season.
"I had two huge disappointments as a fan. One is the game against Rosenburg, the other is this game in Bloomfield on this date," says fan Roy Avraham. "A goalkeeper who suddenly catches a day, a team that doesn't function, a severe disappointment and Eran Zahavi who from that day got on the right track. There is no doubt that despite the heartache against Rosenborg, this is the hardest game for us fans, and today there is a small opportunity to sweeten history."
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