The Maccabi Tel Aviv Courier
Squad25 Aug 2031
Thomas Callens damages knee ligaments — 106 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 106 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.
Market25 Aug 2031
Maccabi Tel Aviv say no — this time
The offer from Hapoel Kiryat Shmona for Assaf Tzur was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings25 Aug 2031
A brace, and Elad Madmon takes the afternoon — 8.59
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Elad Madmon provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings25 Aug 2031
Nobody could get near Isaac James
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom25 Aug 2031
A new deal for Eli Natcho
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Words exchanged at Maccabi Tel Aviv
Mees Hilgers 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.
Boardroom25 Aug 2031
17 academy players handed senior numbers at Maccabi Tel Aviv
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Words at Maccabi Tel Aviv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Ganah 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.
The dugout25 Aug 2031
The manager makes an example of Assaf Tzur
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
In brief
- Market Eli David steps up from the Maccabi Tel Aviv academy
- Market Lior Melikson steps up from the Maccabi Tel Aviv academy
- Market One of our own: Guy Benayoun joins the Maccabi Tel Aviv first team