Maccabi Haifa's championship celebrations (Photo: Yotam Ronen, Video Editing: Aviad Balili)
At the end of the match between Maccabi Haifa and Red Star Belgrade in Serbia in the Champions League qualifiers, while the rest of the players celebrated on the pitch, Ali Mohammed could be seen lying on the floor and struggling to recover from this defining moment. The Niger-turned-Israeli midfielder was one of the standouts in the qualifying campaign and managed to fulfill his dreams as a little boy in Africa. "I wanted to die on this field, I wanted to stay and sleep there," he laughs as he recalls those moments, "This is my biggest moment, my dream came true, to tell the truth? I didn't expect us to be in the group stage of the Champions League, it even surprised me but this is my biggest moment."
On Saturday, Mohammed celebrated his second championship at Maccabi Haifa, becoming one of Israel's most respected players. Just before he left for his homeland leave, Muhammad sat down across from us for a festive interview.
Cruyff's big miss? Ali Mohammed (Photo: Bernie Ardov)
How do you summarize this season?
"It's been a great season full of surprises. We have a great team and to qualify for the Champions League was a dream come true."
Daniel (Sundgren's) goal in Belgrade changed the season.
"Maybe yes and maybe not. In football there is momentum. They scored two goals but I felt straight away that we could come back anyway. When Daniel scored, it was clear to me that we would be back."
Let's go back to the beginning, you played for Beitar Ramla Tel Aviv, which was a subsidiary team of Maccabi Tel Aviv, the fans there don't understand how Jordi Cruyff didn't discover you.
"You can't blame Jordi for that. I still had to grow up and prove myself. I wasn't on me today. I played differently, you could see sparks that's for sure but I wasn't on me now. It was to take a gamble for the future. I know that Maccabi Haifa also followed me at the same time and didn't take me. There are players you see and say wow and after two years they disappear, here it was probably the opposite but you can't blame anyone because that's the process I had to go through."
Tell us how you came to Israel
"Not many people know, but I came to the exams at Hapoel Petah Tikva. I practiced two sessions there and then they let me go and didn't want me. There were a lot of players, I think they just got promoted to the first division and brought in a lot of new players, I was relatively small so they said I wasn't suitable."
Disappointed?
"No, it was my first time leaving Africa so I wasn't nervous because I realized it would take me a while to prove. I told my agent I know I'm not the best at the moment but I know I can become a good player, honestly that sifting gave me drive and here I ended up in the Champions League."
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"Slovedan Drapić and Shai Breda are the coaches who have influenced me the most." Mohammed in Maccabi Netanya uniform (Photo: Danny Maron)
The big change for you took place at Maccabi Netanya.
"Yes, I was with Slovo (Drapič) and Shay (Breda). They are the coaches who have influenced me the most. I learned so many things from them, they taught me to find my true self, I hadn't played like that before I knew them. They let me discover myself and taught me to do things right. In Africa it's not the highest level of learning to do things and they went over everything with me and improved me. There are things I didn't know I was strong about or vice versa and they taught me my strengths and weaknesses."
The Maccabi Haifa crowd is afraid of the day after Barak Bahar.
"You never know what's going on now. You have to start the season and see, Barak has built an amazing team and is a great coach."
Can fans be calm about you?
"For sure, I'm staying."
The audience was also surprised by the appointment of Masai as coach.
"I know he's a young coach who has done very well with the youth team. Any coach who comes along will let him do his job and I'm sure he'll succeed. There is a very strong dressing room and we will do everything so that every coach who is here will succeed, certainly with Masai as well."
How did you feel when you received temporary resident status?
"It was very exciting. I've been in Israel for eight years and it's home for me, it was a really happy moment. I knew it was very hard to accept, but on the other hand, I knew that if you lived here for many years, you could ask."
What happens in the games between you and Beersheba?
"I really don't know what to say about these games. There are a lot of emotions between the groups. Maybe it's because we're first against second and we're always competing against each other. It gets aggressive but when the game is over it has to end. I will try, for example, a good friend of mine, I have no problem with any player in Beersheba. Shai Elias, for example, there were a few climates between us, but I came to him and told him let's play professionally, even if you kick me it will be professional but not nonsense and kicks regardless of the game, he told me obviously you're right. We're not enemies, we're friends who play aggressive, but you can't play too aggressive so as not to shut down a player and hurt his career."
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"I told Elias let's play professionally. Let it be sporty" (Photo: Danny Maron)
You're one of the calmest people I've ever known, the racism in the game against Beersheba made you lash out.
"You know what bothered me? I've seen a lot of kids using racist chants. I've been in Israel for eight years and there's no racism here. I walk down the street and everyone loves you, no matter if you're black or white. You don't feel the racism off the field. But the problem is that on the field I see kids doing it, and that's what worries me and hurts me. It started with one or two people to annoy but now it's more noticeable."
How do you stop it?
"We need to talk about it a lot. Football is a loss or a win, you can't take it to a place of racism."
Do you think teams should start coming off the field?
"If it's me alone I don't think you have to get off the field, you have to stop it and if that's going to cause it to come off the field then yes."
Abdoulaye Seck took the calls against him very hard.
"He's played in a lot of different places, but he says he's never encountered racism like that against him. The truth is that we spoke to the foreigners and they asked us about Israel and I told them that there is no racism here and that life is good and that it is true. Every Saturday they invite us to meals and everyone always supports us and then he stumbled upon it so it hurt him a lot."
Speaking of racism, tell about your first training session at home and kindergarten. You have been interrogated in the compound by fans whether you are a Muslim or a Christian.
"It's true, they asked me, but I don't blame them. In Israel, if your name is Muhammad, you are definitely a Muslim, but in Africa it is also a Christian name, because there were many Christians who converted to Islam and many Muslims who converted to Christianity. When I came here, I understood that there are political issues, but I don't deal with it."
But was there really an investigation?
"Everyone was confused about it. I understood that there was a mess around it but it wasn't a problem for me, I didn't see that it was a problem and I didn't talk about it. I don't like clutter so I try to avoid it."
"I knew I had to give 200 percent when Netta was there to play" (Photo: Maor Elkeslassy)
Can you make a back-to-back to the Champions League group stage?
"Wait a minute, relax, let me celebrate, let me rest. It depends a lot on the lottery, but anything is possible."
Tell us a little about Charon Shri.
"Playing with Sherry is an experience. It's so easy to play with and it's fun. He understands football, he's a good person. He's not one of those guys who will make hand gestures and make a mess of the game if you don't hand him over, he's a team player, I'm so happy he's on my team. Playing with him for two years is amazing for me. In difficult times he always shows up."
Was it hard for you when Neta left?
"Wow, very much. He was very versatile in the game and also our leader. He created competition and I knew you had to give 200 percent when he was in order to be in the lineup. He's really a leader, he's a special player."
Tell about his friendship with Mavis.
"Abu Fani is the only one who doesn't cause me problems. There's one Mavis who's with the team and there's another Mavis who's with me, it's a different person. He's a great player and I hope he gives a good season."
What is your preferred position?
"Both six and eight are good. Now I do not prefer one position. I used to play mostly eight and now I've played a lot in position six. So now I have two good positions that I need to get the job done."
What happened this year with the Maccabi Haifa crowd is unprecedented.
"It's crazy, you feel like you have 30,<> players on the pitch with you. We didn't lose the league at all at home, we only got one draw, it's not just. It's because of the crowd. It's crazy that we even beat Juventus at home. I want to say thank you to all the audience for the strength they gave us, especially during the difficult times. In difficult times, sometimes the crowd kills the team, but here it didn't happen and we felt the support."
Dreaming of playing in the Champions League again. Ali Mohammed in a fight with Benfica's Joao Mario (Photo: Maor Elkeslassy)
What shirts to take as a souvenir from the Champions League?
"It's a good story because I don't have a single shirt that I took."
Why?
"I guess I'm too shy and until I asked we gave them the shirts so I couldn't take any shirts at any game. The most important thing I played in the Champions League, not the shirts."
Did you leave your shirt at least as a souvenir?
"Are you crazy? It's framed in glass, it's amazing for me that I was there. It gives me the strength to continue to do bigger things in the future."
Is it possible to do better?
"Every year I want more. Even when we took championships, we want more."
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- Israeli football
- League
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- 'Ali Muhammad
- Maccabi Haifa