Aryeh Habib in his prime/Maariv, Reuven Castro
"Shlomo Sharaf came to coach Maccabi Haifa in the 1983/4 season, I played for Hapoel Haifa in the second league. Sharaf asked me to join Maccabi Haifa as the first goalkeeper. The position of chairman of the professional and management committee was the former stopper Yohanan Wallach.
He cast a blanket veto on the move, Wallach claimed, quite rightly, that there is an outstanding goalkeeper in the club's youth team named Avi Ran, a quality goalkeeper who should be given a chance to prove himself among the senior team.
The move was successful, Avi Ran got the shirt and the rest is known."
And what do you think about Avi Ran?
"Definitely.
He was a huge goalkeeper, in his ability and personality.
I was a big fan of Avi Ran, I saw him play and applauded him, I loved the meetings and conversations with him.
The boating accident in Kinneret in which he died hurt me a lot, I was sad."
So you commemorated him in a special way.
"I have two sons from my first marriage, Omar and Aviran, I named my little son after him.
His father, Moshe Ran, was the godfather at my son's circumcision."
Aryeh Habib/courtesy of the photographer
Aryeh Habib was born on June 9, 1956. "Father Israel and mother Luna, both deceased, were born in Turkey and immigrated to Israel in 1949, first to the immigrant camp in Lod and from there to Yehud.
I am the youngest of three children.
Omar and Aviran were born from my first marriage, and I have two daughters from my marriage to Asnat, my angel.
Two princesses, 22 year old Adi is a student at the University in Jerusalem and 16 and a half year old Lehi is in high school.
My boys have had a band called 'Great Mashin' for 20 years, it's their own business.
I have four grandchildren, two daughters and two sons."
He lives in Modi'in, works in a family business: "I have been living a healthy lifestyle with health supplements from the Zemach Hayim company and ValeoPro for 7 years."
His love affair with soccer began, like everyone else, in the neighborhood "I started in Hapoel Yehud as a striker, but in one of the training sessions I injured my ankle, it didn't suit me and I left football for two and a half years."
From there he became an outstanding handball player.
Yoram Overkovich saw me and brought me to Yossi Stark in Hapoel Herzliya, which was then an empire in handball.
The star Akiva Lefler then left for Europe.
I played in the youth team of Hapoel Yehud, where I returned as a goalkeeper, on Thursdays I came to Yehud's training games to return balls to get a ticket for the Saturday game.
I haven't moved to Hapoel Herzliya handball yet, but I continued to play in the Savion team."
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Aryeh Habib with his two sons and two daughters/courtesy of the photographer
Shaul Albukar gave him the goalkeeper's vest in Yehud.
"Hapoel Yehud fought for the promotion ticket to the National League in League A South. The management asked Albucher to let me be the starting goalkeeper in the last three games. We won three times 0:1 and moved up to the top league."
In 1976 Shlomo Sharaf reached the position of coach.
Tell us about your conversation.
"Strek from Herzliya pressured me to sign with the handball team. Sharaf met with me as the coach of Hapoel Yehud. I explained to him the situation in handball and also the fact that I wanted to play and not sit on the bench. Sharaf made it clear to me 'in handball they will write two lines about you in the sports page before the end next to the result. A star on the front page. Let's try, think at home and give me an answer tomorrow.' To the goalkeeper of the Israel national team. In the games, he gave me confidence, as well as David Kerko and the revered captain Shaul Sasson, who was like a father to the other players."
When they say "Hapoel Yehud" they mean the famous bunker.
"At the time, the league was worth two points for a win, and a draw was worth one point. It was clear to us that if we drew a lot, we would stay in the top league. I was the pivot in defense, and with a group of fighters and a coach like Shlomo Sharaf, we made a line from Jino. If we scored a goal advantage , we asked who we were against next week, it was clear that we would not lose. In the first season in the top league, we had 19 draws."
Aryeh Habib with his wife/Walla! system, private album
Two giants.
with Yossi Mizrahi
Like every actor back then, he also had a story with Motl'a Spiegler.
"Hapoel Yehud was playing away against Maccabi Netanya. Spiegler told me before the corner kick that he would subdue me. I answered him angrily that I didn't care about him, he wouldn't subdue me, and that's how it was. At the end of the game, Spiegler shook my hand and told Rozen and Sharaf that they have At Shaar Talent - 'grow him to be a success between the rafters'".
Another Netanya star actually scored quite a bit against him.
"Oded Mekans was, for me, a marvel of a striker, an excellent player and a huge figure with amazing abilities. In the Netanya game he scored four goals in front of me, including a penalty in the 90th minute that he kicked, I deflected it to the crossbar and returned to him and then kicked to the other corner and subdued me. He did not feel sorry for me, He scored against me in almost every game, a giant at the time who is unlike him today."
Maknes describes: "I remember very well the four goals scored by Habib, who was then the goalkeeper of the Israel national team, one of the best in the league. I also scored four goals against the net of Yossi Mizrahi from Beitar Jerusalem, I am the only one who scored four against the net of two goalkeepers of the Israeli national team at that time." .
Celebrating in Hapoel Yehud.
Habib/Maariv, Jonathan Shaul
So Arya, let's really talk about the team.
"After the 1978 World Cup qualifiers and the loss in Seoul to South Korea, Emmanuel Shaffer was appointed the national coach after Schweitzer. My first game was in Bloomfield, in a 0:2 victory over Denmark. Surinov finished his career and the goalkeepers in the team were Emmanuel Schwartz, Yossi Mizrahi and myself. I played in several games before Olympian and I came on for five minutes against Spain in Murcia, at a Mizrahi venue which was excellent. I conceded an equalizer at the end, 1:1. I finished my career as the goalkeeper of the national team after the 1986 World Cup qualifiers, in a match in Ramat Gan against New Zealand, we won 0:3."
And then the era of Avi Ran between the rafters begins.
"That's right, Avi Ran replaced me as the team's first goalkeeper. Coach Yosef Marimovich asked to start running Bonnie Ginzburg, rightly so for Bonnie, but I recommended him to see Avi on Saturday at Maccabi Haifa. He saw and invited Avi, who already started in the team in the first game after the World Cup qualifiers Against Scotland in a friendly match. I sat in the stands, I got chills from his ability. I was the biggest fan of the one who was marked to become the greatest goalkeeper in Israeli football."
Tell us a little about the social identity in the team.
"We were with Shaffer at a training camp in Germany. We went on a shopping day in Baden-Baden. The fashion then was to buy tall cowboy boots. We all bought, Moshiko Geriani asked for boots number 36. After him, the late goalkeeper Efraim Weiman asked for number 56. Shalom Avitan burst out laughing and suggested Geriani sew From Wayman Khalifa's boots, to the sound of laughter in the store."
Aryeh Habib with his daughters/Walla! system, private album
A group of great players.
Habib with Israel Sassoon
The highlight moment for Yehud was, of course, winning the 1982 State Cup. "On the way we passed three finals, we beat Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa in double games after a draw. In the semi-finals we passed Beitar Jerusalem with our favorite score, 0:1.
In the final, Hapoel Tel Aviv of Bejarno, Dreyfus, Yanka, Zana, Sinai, Turk and others awaited us.
We were at the hotel in Ramat Aviv on the evening of the final, where Hapoel Tel Aviv was also staying.
Mayor Saadia Katucha came to the lobby and loudly promised a trophy grant of half a million shekels to each player, a million shekels to Aryeh Habib.
The Hapoel Tel Aviv players turned pale when they heard about the crazy amount.
"I was injured before the game in the quadriceps muscle in my left leg. I received two shots before the game, and two more shots at halftime. It was the only game in which my mother saw me play (my father Israel saw me once, I was injured and I was lying injured on the grass and he was very stressed, so He didn't make it to the games anymore). We won the final 0:1 with the goal of Shalom Rokvan."
Did you receive the money promised by Kuchta?
"Absolutely not, it was a statement to stress the Hapoel Tel Aviv players."
Did football help you financially?
"No big money. At Hapoel Yehud they promised me an apartment in exchange for a long-term contract, but I paid most of the amount out of my own pocket. Even at Hapoel Haifa the checks came back, Eli Segev, who had signed them, came to my house so that I would cancel his order not to go abroad, He promised to pay and I never saw him again.
I did what I had by the sweat of my brow."
Aryeh Habib/Maariv, Adi Avishi
Hapoel Yehud is relegated, you want to leave.
"At the end of the 1983/4 season, Yehud was relegated to the national team from last place in the table. I had a meeting with Ofer, the son of Saadia Hatuka, and with coach Zeev Seltzer who came for a short training period. The message that was conveyed to me was 'You are not released, you brought the team down, you will bring it up.' I took my legs, put in the quarantine form and started training at Hapoel Petach Tikva. Yitzhak Shum and Yair Levita from Hapoel Kfar Saba came to Yehud, they asked to check on players for purchase and then they offered me. I moved to Kfar Saba, and from there to Maccabi Netanya of the owner Yitzhak Tshuva, I played in the team for two years, I was the national team's goalkeeper again."
Here things started to go wrong.
"I opened a clothing store in the Ramat Gan mall, I was late for training, I received financial fines. Goalkeeper Kobi Beldev came to Maccabi Netanya, I went down to the bench. When Beldev injured his cheek bone and was absent for several weeks, I returned to the team and excelled. Seltzer preferred to return Kobi to goal despite my good ability and being national team goalkeeper. I went to Teshuva and Seltzer, I asked to leave Netanya, Hapoel Haifa bought me."
Disappointment in the last game that prevented promotion to the national team.
"The 1987/8 season was under coach Roni Dora. In the last round against Maccabi Yavne I did not play due to five yellow cards, when the referee Rahamim Dinchi issued the fifth card in the game before me, my pleas did not help. We needed a victory over Maccabi Yavne, but we lost and The ticket to the top league was taken by Hapoel Tiberias.
Transfers to Hapoel Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem were torpedoed at the last minute. "I had an agreement with Nissan Nissanov, the contract was closed, but Bjerno, who was very dominant in Hapoel, was not ready, he preferred Aryeh Alter as a goalkeeper.
I signed a contract in Beitar with Bnei Nehemiah, but the late Dror Kashtan preferred Boni Ginzburg over me."
did not stop conquering against him.
Cute with pants
After Hapoel Haifa Yitzhak Shum brought him to Beitar Tel Aviv. "I made it clear to Hapoel Haifa that I don't intend to continue playing in the second league, I moved to Shum and my country Ben Yaakov Beitar Tel Aviv. We were in the top playoffs, fun and attacking football. We lost in the semi-finals of the cup 1989 to Beitar Jerusalem 0:1 and in the final of the Toto Cup to Hapoel Petah Tikva, 2:4.
After two years, my contract was not renewed by the club, I moved to play one season in Hapoel Hadera, which was coached by Eli Sharif Cohen."
Do you go to soccer games and the Israel national team?
"I haven't seen Israeli football games for over 20 years. I stopped coming to the Israel national team games 10 years ago, the football association stopped the transfer of my ticket to my hands at the association's offices, they send me to hustle and bustle at the box office. I played for over ten years in the national team, we don't have Respect to past players like in Europe."
His career ended with further wanderings.
"After Hapoel Hadera, I received an offer from my friend Joe Kot from Eilat to play for Hapoel Eilat, to promote football and qualify for higher leagues, but after several years, due to a family crisis (divorce), I left Eilat. I moved to play for Maccabi Yehud, for fun, just to break up. From my bad feeling. At Maccabi Yehud I decided to retire from football. I go around Yehud from time to time, the veterans remember and know me, but the younger generation is the one who is said not to have known Yosef."
Ofer Hatuchah, Shlomi Shabbat, Balhasan and Habib last weekend/courtesy of the photographer
Need nutritional supplements.
Habib the young man on the background of the company/public relations
Return to Judaism.
Your most loyal fan was Shlomi Shabbat.
"Hapoel Yehud ran in the blood of Shlomi Shabbat, he traveled with us to every game, today me and the family are the most loyal fans of Shabbat as a singer. We had great players, it was not for nothing that Maccabi Tel Aviv took Israel Sasson and Itzik Belhassan."
Red cards as a goalkeeper?
"We played against Maccabi Petah Tikva, Doron Rabinzon kicked me in the back, I turned around as if to box him, he fell and started screaming, referee Yair Tillinger pushed me away. Eli Cohen Kokos also kicked me, I kicked him back and immediately the red card was drawn."
An unforgettable goal?
"We played in the neighborhood against Bnei Yehuda, Ehud Ben Tovim kicked a thunderous ball from 25 meters that went between the rafters. Crazy goal, I clapped and hugged him, the team was very angry about this move."
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Hapoel Yehud