Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ido Cohen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Franck Rivollier is on it.
A mark of 4.55 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Omer Shirazi is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Maor Erlich
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Maccabi Petach Tikva and Hapoel Haifa, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad15 Feb 2027
José Cortés 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.
Omer Shirazi 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Beaten 4 times, 3 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Eitan Tibi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Maccabi Petach Tikva needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
The dugoutIdo Cohen asks for a word with the manager
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 14 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Petach Tikva lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Maccabi Petach Tikva and Hapoel Tel Aviv in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ido Cohen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Petach Tikva lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Noam Ben-Harush, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.88
A mark of 7.88 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nowaf Bazia commits to Maccabi Petach Tikva for another 3 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Ido Cohen 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 1‑1 draw with Bnei Sakhnin leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Eden Cohen was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Maccabi Petach Tikva dressing room was either.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Maccabi Petach Tikva may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Giuliano Gurrieri 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.
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.
12 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Daniel Felczer has let it be known that he does not like the way Maccabi Petach Tikva are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 10 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
In brief
Player ratingsSamuel Owusu beats them one at a time
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Eyal Inbrum
Idan Dahan 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ido Cohen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Beitar Jerusalem next, and one man in the Maccabi Petach Tikva dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Maccabi Petach Tikva, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Adar Ratner and Maccabi Petach Tikva agree another 4 years.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Idan Dahan 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.
Omer Shirazi 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Eden Cohen left the room before anybody could ask which.
A mark of 4.92 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Eitan Tibi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Hapoel Acre next, and one man in the Maccabi Petach Tikva dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Cruzeiro is saying, and nobody at Maccabi Petach Tikva is enjoying the guessing.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ofir Revivo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Amit Abada has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Yonatan Peretz is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Uri Refaelov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ido Cohen 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Novorizontino have kept their man, and Maccabi Petach Tikva go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Omer Shirazi and Maccabi Petach Tikva agree another 3 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 Petach Tikva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“57 caps. I have loved every one, and it is somebody else’s turn.” At 38 he has stepped away from his country and is going nowhere at Maccabi Petach Tikva.
Maccabi Petach Tikva have made the call to Internacional. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Owusu 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Maccabi Petach Tikva, and both men came out saying it was fine.