Panathinaikos – Maccabi Haifa, war calendar

Haifa, in northern Israel, is far from the heat of war. How is broad defined? So much so that Hamas rockets from Gaza cannot reach it. The fear of the closer and much more poorly operating Hezbollah, based in (northernmost) Lebanon, has always been dominant, but so far in this two-month-old war it is only a mental, not a practical, fear.

It is significant that since October 7 in Haifa, the alarm sirens have sounded only once in all attacks on the Israeli kibbutzim on the Gaza border.

A special and unique city in Israel. There aren’t many mixed races in the country anyway, this is probably the only one where the Arab element coexists harmoniously with the Jewish one. It is no coincidence that Maccabi Haifa is particularly popular among Arab Israelis, while there are many (relatively more) Arab footballers in its academies as well as in the first team.

In fact, Dia Saba, the top footballer of the “Greens”, is one of them, Israeli (in ethnicity) Arab (in race, Muslim in religion). And one of the victims of the war. The reason was his wife, who on October 17th, when the Israeli troops’ attack on Gaza began, criticized the sharpness of the reaction in her post, without – as she was accused of – having done something similar ten days before the Hamas attack.

In a country living in the paranoia of war, this action caused a storm of reactions (and in the dressing room, to the great dismay of Jewish Israelis), the mildest being limited to a football background and the demand from the club to have the international Punish extreme midfielders. When it happened. However, Maccabi, without justifying its decision, announced the indefinite exclusion of Saba from the team’s commitments.

The 31-year-old, who, among other things, had an intense, public online confrontation with PAS goalkeeper Boris Kleiman, can train normally but cannot take part in games.

What is obvious and very important is that the cost of competition for Maccabi becomes even higher considering that Dolev Khaziza, the second most important winger, the second most creative and second most attacking opponent, has been (and will remain) out of action since the beginning of September due to injury. for some time now).

Abstinence, the return to red and the revelation of Halaili

A development that was the biggest news exclusively for racing, the biggest good news for the Panathinaikos rival (12/14, 7:45 p.m., COSMOTE SPORT 3 HD) following the return of football activity in Israel. And that is absolutely characteristic of the overall situation and the mosaic of the country.

His name is Anan Halaili. At the age of 19, a key member of the Israel U20 national team that reached the final of the World Cup last summer. One of the country’s greatest talents, extreme striker, competitive on both sides, fast, strong at dribbling. And he, an Israeli Arab.

Initially due to Khaziza’s injury, he found – for the first time in his professional career – a permanent place in the rotation at the beginning of the season, now, after the loss of Saba, he has become a key player and (almost) irreplaceable.

In the five games that the “Greens” played after the break, he is the one who stands out, the “freshest” in a team clearly affected by a month and a half of inactivity, with an obvious lack of rhythm and energy, but also – as paradoxical as it may sound – and perseverance.

And that’s because the return to competition took place immediately as part of a complete program without an interim “reload” training phase. This suggests Maccabi will play their sixth game in 19 days at the Avenue.

That is, one every three days (excluding the international Israelis’ earlier commitments with the back-to-back games, then four in a row over a ten-day period, in the immediately preceding break for the national teams’ commitments). And so the calendar will continue to be published for quite some time (as long as circumstances and the war allow it).

When the war broke out, everything in Israel came to a standstill. The foreign footballers – and those who still received Israeli citizenship – moved to their home countries and tried to make a living there. For example, the (knot) captain Seri, who returned to the Netherlands, trained with Groningen.

Angolan defensive midfielder Shaw with Benfica’s second team. He was the one who came back late. He played in Maccabi’s two games in the Europa League on neutral ground, first in Cyprus against Villarreal and then after the Cypriot government failed (at least according to Maccabi officials’ claims) to ensure the mission’s security for the rest The Megalonis decided to “relocate” to Belgrade for the game against Rennes, but only returned to Israel after the game against the French team.

The losses of the Maccabi company and the mobilization for the hostages

During this month and a half of break, the (apparently local) Maccabi footballers who remained in Haifa followed the general recruiting climate. Not by taking part in military actions, but by visiting – at the insistence of the association – various “sights” (hospitals, schools, psychological care centers, military units) in the south, with the clear aim of psychological stimulation and strengthening.

Something that took on a more “personal” character due to the losses in the wider Maccabi Haifa society. It has been revealed that 49 of the team’s fans were murdered in the Hamas attacks and seven are still being held hostage. Two of them were the faces of relevant campaigns for the club.

Eland Katzir is the first. He was found in the stands by “Sami Ofer” in the game against Panathinaikos and that was the last time anyone saw him. He returned to his home in the south and was kidnapped by Hamas for 36 hours. He remains a hostage, his elderly mother has been released, his father murdered.

“We are waiting for you at Sami (Maccabi Stadium)”, the relevant motto of the Maccabi campaign, shown through relevant TV and online views and messages from the footballers.

A similar dedication to Inbar Hyman, also (presumably) a hostage in Gaza, with the additional – of course symbolic – initiative of the “green” government, resulting from the payment of her house rent for the next year, so that “to it.” certainly the last thing that will worry you while we wait for your return to Haifa.

Consisting of the Palladian demand for the release and return of the hostages, Maccabi management demanded its first home game after the lockdown (it is understood that for security reasons, all games will be played behind closed doors indefinitely and automatically when the alarm sounds). Sirens sounded, they were immediately interrupted), during the hosting of Hapoel Petah Tikva, it was decided that the football players who would compete would display a banner with the slogan “Bring Them Home Now” prevalent in Israel should. .

Things didn’t go so well. The non-Israeli football players all decided, after what turned out to be mutual consultation, not to hold the banner either, but to maintain a physical distance from the banner and stay a few steps behind and away from it.

In the highly sensitized public opinion of the time, the reactions were immediate and violent. So much so that during the game, in order to somehow rally them, Maccabi was forced to announce that everything that happened was the club’s responsibility, since there was no relevant information for the team’s non-Israeli footballers were – as rightly stated in their defense – afraid of possible attacks and acted accordingly.

There are many other, everyday stories as this terrible war unfolds. Football, of course, comes second (and at the top). But for the residents of the area, at least the escape from a gloomy everyday life and an uncertain present and future is always in the foreground.