Three and a half weeks after April 1, 2014, a date known to many as International Day of Falsehoods or Fools' Day, Hapoel and Maccabi Tel Aviv met in old Bloomfield, with the Yellows able to win the championship that evening.
The Hapoel Tel Aviv lineup included conquerors Orel Degani, Gili Vermut and Omer Damari, alongside Basart Abdurrahimi, Lukash Sasha and Danny Amos, who has since refined his name to Amos.
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On the yellow side, Eran Zahavi entered at half-time at the expense of Tal Ben-Haim, and of course scored, and on the pitch were already running around Sharan Yeni, Dor Micha (entered in the 29th minute), Eitan Tibi and two who are now wearing red - Dan Einbinder and Omri Altman, who together played 90 minutes.
Since that red night, the Tel Aviv derby has been in absolute control of the yellows, while the reds all seem to not believe the streak can be broken. And in almost every derby, as soon as the first major crisis arrives, the Reds collapse.
This season Hapoel Tel Aviv actually looks better than in previous seasons, and at least on paper the team is built better. Specifically regarding tonight's derby, she has good tools to hurt her great rival.
Valcanis. Hapoel is more connected than before, photo: Maor Elkeslassy
Hapoel started the season somewhat lame in the Toto Cup. Coach Michael Valcanis opts to play in a three-man lineup, although the squad that has been built does not fit that formation.
Valkanis did not insist and changed to 4:3:3, and Hapoel seems stable and much more connected. The Reds have built a fast, classic forward for passing play, with Alain Ojebolt, Hisham Lajos and Omri Altman/Mavis Chibota, with three intense midfielders behind them who know how to cover areas and also join the front when needed.
The Reds' weak point is the defenders, and that's where Valkanis will have to be tactically smart to avoid isolating the Yellows' No. 1 creator - Milson - especially against Alon Azogyi. Hapoel, of course, must also know how to correctly accept Eran Zahavi and Dor Peretz when Maccabi Tel Aviv isolates the line players.
Einbinder. The worker needs a leader for the moments of stress, photo: Alan Shaver
Offensively, the place Hapoel wants to go is on its left wing, and that's where it should try to isolate Lajos as much as possible on Masson, who does show great qualities in attack - but even against Breidblick on Thursday we saw his difficulty defensively, especially the holes and the lack of coordination between him and Derrick Lucassen.
On the other hand, the Yellows come into the game after a bad second half against Icelanders in the Conference League, and an anemic game against Beni Reina.
Coach Robbie Keane is still looking for solutions that will create more quality minutes for his players. Offensively, the Irishman has yet to find the player who will complete the front trio alongside Zahavi and Milson, and in recent games he has been trying three players in that position - Dor Turgeman, Osher Davida and Yonatan Cohen.
Regardless of which player Keane chooses, the fate of the game will depend mainly on the abilities of two players - Juris van Overeem and Dor Perez.
Keane. You have to be careful, Photo: Ami Shumen
The Dutchman is terrific with the ball, but has yet to prove that he can stop pass attacks effectively, and even against Icelanders the Yellows' midfield was crisp in many moments of the game.
Dor Peretz, who has had a wonderful start to the current season offensively and who gets complete freedom from Keane to make the second-line additions, will have to be more moderate this time in forward exits, because if he leaves Van Overeem alone in the middle, Maccabi Tel Aviv's brakes will have a hard time coping with the speed of the Reds' front.
Maccabi is once again the favourite, first of all because of the qualitative advantage on the pitch, but there is also the baggage that Hapoel has been carrying since the last decade. But, unlike previous derbies in recent years, this time there is a feeling that the worker arrives a little differently, less afraid, more organized, carrying less precipitation and with a little more faith.
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Will these feelings plus home advantage be enough to narrow the qualitative gap between the teams? Not sure. What's more, we can expect a powerful evening in the biggest derby our football has to offer.
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