16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Kiryat Shmona 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. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Roy Levy had done his part in building a 3-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Bnei Sakhnin 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. 8.27 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Kiryat Shmona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3‑4 to Bnei Sakhnin, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings8 Dec 2036
Thulani Mabaso was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
131 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Kiryat Shmona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
29 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.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.71 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Thulani Mabaso 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 had been thinking. Amit Glazer 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.
138 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Kiryat Shmona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Kiryat Shmona 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.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Hapoel Kiryat Shmona could ask drops and the wages Ali Al-Yammahi can ask rise.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thulani Mabaso provided it, and the 9.98 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. 9.31 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 Hapoel Kiryat Shmona can pretend not to have heard.
Amit Glazer 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Hapoel Kiryat Shmona and Hapoel Raanana, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thulani Mabaso 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.
Position 3, 40 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Hapoel Kiryat Shmona will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Thulani Mabaso 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 had been thinking. Amit Glazer 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.
8 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.
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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.95 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
26 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Kiryat Shmona 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.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Kiryat Shmona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Out, 0‑1 to Maccabi Petach Tikva, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.53 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 Hapoel Kiryat Shmona, 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 Hapoel Kiryat Shmona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 goals in one match, Roy Levy on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Hapoel Kiryat Shmona and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Amit Glazer 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.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Kiryat Shmona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 3, 32 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“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; Hapoel Kiryat Shmona are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Hapoel Kiryat Shmona lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Kiryat Shmona 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. 22 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.99 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Thulani Mabaso 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.
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Kiryat Shmona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Maccabi Haifa the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Hapoel Kiryat Shmona will enjoy reviewing.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Roy Levy provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Position 3, 23 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hapoel Kiryat Shmona may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Amit Glazer 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.
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Kiryat Shmona 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 Hapoel Kiryat Shmona will enjoy reviewing.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.46 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Amit Glazer 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.
83 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Kiryat Shmona 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. 38 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.
Mohamed Ibrahim 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.
Marked 8.61 — 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.
Shots: 9. 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.