It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Abner Eduardo wants continental football; whether Bnei Yehuda can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Haifa have kept their man, and Bnei Yehuda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jul 2036
Words at Bnei Yehuda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentino Álvarez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Hapoel Tel Aviv have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bnei Yehuda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bnei Yehuda can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom31 Mar 2036
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Bnei Yehuda
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Valentino Álvarez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Bnei Yehuda will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentino Álvarez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ofek Melika signs something — a contract at Bnei Yehuda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Bnei Yehuda could ask drops and the wages André Leipold can ask rise.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 16 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
0‑3 to Maccabi Haifa, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Maccabi Tel Aviv keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Sacha Deighton and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentino Álvarez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Bnei Yehuda, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bnei Yehuda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Omer Senior has his answer from Bnei Yehuda; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bnei Yehuda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout7 Jan 2036
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Oliver Krüger was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Bnei Yehuda dressing room was either.
Squad7 Jan 2036
Dan Galmor falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
André Leipold and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Dec 2035
Words at Bnei Yehuda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentino Álvarez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It needed Almog Shechter to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Hapoel Raanana, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout31 Dec 2035
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Oliver Krüger chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Bnei Yehuda have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bnei Yehuda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Oliver Krüger, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Hapoel Kiryat Shmona in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
15 combined actions and 7.12. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentino Álvarez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Half the programme played, position 12, 7 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Almog Refaelov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boardroom10 Dec 2035
90% of the income goes out in wages at Bnei Yehuda
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The mood at Bnei Yehuda has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentino Álvarez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Almog Shechter and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
0‑3 against Maccabi Haifa, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“I have watched this squad. There is more in it than the table says.” First press conference, first promise — Oliver Krüger made the one every new manager makes, and now comes the part where it gets checked.
André Leipold was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A new manager did not pick last season’s side and does not care what it looked like. André Leipold has taken that personally, in the best sense, and Bnei Yehuda are seeing a version of him the last regime had stopped seeing.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Oliver Krüger after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Bnei Yehuda is running low.
Yaad Gonen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jun 2035
André Leipold falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Bnei Yehuda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A loan enquiry to Hapoel Tel Aviv: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bnei Yehuda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Omri Gandelman and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Words at Bnei Yehuda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. André Leipold is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yaad Gonen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Roy Shedo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bnei Yehuda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
André Leipold was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Words at Bnei Yehuda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franko Siegler is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Bnei Yehuda. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
89 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 25 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Bnei Yehuda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Sacha Deighton was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Mar 2035
André Leipold falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bnei Yehuda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Everything agreed with Maccabi Haifa, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Almog Shechter was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Maccabi Tel Aviv wanted more than $13.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad29 Jan 2035
André Leipold falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Bnei Yehuda can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bnei Yehuda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
0‑5 against Maccabi Tel Aviv, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bnei Yehuda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bnei Yehuda have done the hard part with Maccabi Tel Aviv, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Sacha Deighton and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The offer went to Maccabi Tel Aviv this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad22 Jan 2035
Words at Bnei Yehuda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. André Leipold is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Jwan Halabi
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bnei Yehuda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Hapoel Kfar Saba the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Bnei Yehuda will enjoy reviewing.
Omri Gandelman was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Maccabi Petach Tikva waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Bnei Yehuda is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Itay Shechter will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bnei Yehuda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Everything agreed with Maccabi Tel Aviv, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Maccabi Petach Tikva is saying, and nobody at Bnei Yehuda is enjoying the guessing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Henrique Simeone and Bnei Yehuda agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Yaad Gonen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Jan 2035
Words at Bnei Yehuda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. André Leipold is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.