It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Tel Aviv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sayed Abu Farchi 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.
Marked 9.72 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Anis Hadj Moussa provided it, and the 9.08 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.65 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Elad Madmon and Maccabi Tel Aviv agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Tel Aviv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Maccabi Tel Aviv hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Avi Weissman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Tel Aviv the goodbyes have quietly begun.
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Tel Aviv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
33 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hapoel Tel Aviv have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.20 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 23 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Maccabi Tel Aviv will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.80 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maccabi Tel Aviv can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Tel Aviv is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mohamed Camara 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.
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.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Tel Aviv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Hapoel Acre the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Maccabi Tel Aviv will enjoy reviewing.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.21 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maccabi Tel Aviv can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sahar Lavi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Tel Aviv the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hélio Varela and Maccabi Tel Aviv agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Roei Alkukin 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.
Squad28 Sep 2037
Doron Leidner 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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hapoel Tel Aviv know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Tel Aviv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maccabi Tel Aviv can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Tel Aviv they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mohamed Camara 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.
Squad28 Sep 2037
Tyrese Asante 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.
17 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Maccabi Haifa will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.24 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The words a physio says slowly. 83 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Maccabi Tel Aviv have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Tel Aviv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Tel Aviv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Maccabi Tel Aviv, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Tel Aviv is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Ben Weissman reports back to Maccabi Tel Aviv with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Tel Aviv they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Tel Aviv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Itai Zafrani has agreed terms with Maccabi Haifa for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
In brief
SquadWords at Maccabi Tel Aviv training over how hard people work
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Tel Aviv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nir Glazer will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Tel Aviv the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Tel Aviv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Tel Aviv they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Maccabi Tel Aviv will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nir Glazer will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Tel Aviv the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Tel Aviv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Roy Revivo and Maccabi Tel Aviv agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The words a physio says slowly. 58 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.
Kristijan Belić had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Maccabi Petach Tikva were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.11 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Mohamed Camara 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Itai Zafrani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Tel Aviv the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Chukwueze 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 words a physio says slowly. 93 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Tel Aviv is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Tel Aviv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Marked 9.05 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
122 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Tel Aviv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.74 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Issouf Sissokho will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Tel Aviv the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Tel Aviv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It needed Hélio Varela to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Hapoel Kiryat Shmona, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Shots: 14. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.