“In key positions, donkeys sit on the standard of lions”

The section this time will not be a regular section, because Gili Landau is no ordinary man. Even today, in his new incarnation in the field of entrepreneurship and business connection, an interview with him will never be a question and answer document that is all about raising nostalgia for the good old days. He has a lot to say, about everything, and he will also say everything. This was also the case with the teams he coached: he never folded, never agreed to deviate from his original and unique path, and more than once paid for it in his job before completing a full season.

But Landau’s mythology begins in his days as a footballer, and is marked by a glowing marker by two historic and controversial goals whose name is signed. On the winning goal he scored in the 86th minute in 0: 1 over Maccabi Haifa, which brought Hapoel Tel Aviv the championship in the 1985/6 season, it is claimed that he scored from a different position. He dedicates a monologue to this goal, spiced with quotes from wise men, mixing dream and reality And hints of mysticism.Permission to speak to the poet Landau.

“Maybe Moshe Sinai didn’t mean to pass, but he passed a ball to me. I felt I was offside but I kept going and scored the goal. It was the first live broadcast in history. Even then, I realized that thought produces reality. How did Gandhi say? Your faith becomes your thoughts, your thoughts “Become your words, your words become your actions. Show me a footballer who declares on the eve of a game the minute he will score the winning goal that will bring a championship and it does come true.” The story of this dream was also confirmed by Zion Merili, the actor who was supposed to keep Gili Landau, many years later: he too heard from Landau about the dream he had at night.

And this is how the “Figmelandau effect” worked: “At the beginning of the season I was injured and only in the second round did Hapoel Tel Aviv start running for the championship and then I started to score, a few goals. On the way to the championship game, I told David Schweizer ‘I do not know, but I dreamed that Bloomfield would be blown up, you put me in as a first substitute and I bring you the championship goal’ and so it was. ” This is a perfectly legal gate. Landau himself was no different.

From there, Landau skips to a memory related to that game referee, Zvi Sharir, peace be upon him: “I met him and he always told me I was his nightmare. But I was among the few players who came to his funeral and paid tribute to him.”

Landau’s second controversial goal was in the cup final, in a derby against arch-rival Maccabi Tel Aviv at the Raj Stadium, which was blown up. “We were already leading 0: 2 and Maccabi managed to equalize and then the move came, I remember I had to use my hand to get the ball into the goal. Referee Ovadia Ben Yitzhak did not see the move and approved the goal despite the claims of Maccabi players. I went to Zvika Rosen “He said, ‘Do what you understand.’ I was silent and only after a long time did I tell the truth,” Landau says. “The easy part was to score, the hard part was to play the game after scoring the goal. To run naturally as if there is no tomorrow and no room for doubt. The goal sanctifies the means! The important thing is that in the history of Hapoel Tel Aviv I signed the two most important goals.” Over the years, Landau also raises an interesting question: “It could have been intriguing to see if and how the two mythological gates would have passed the VAR test.”

When asked who are the greatest players he has coached, Landau shoots a list: “Reuven Atar Virtuoso, Nissim Cohen unique and special, Yossi Gordana a wide genius, Yaakov Eckhaus a rare defensive player in his qualities, an exciting French guy – a tone.

If there is one thing that infuriates him, it is the broken politics that surrounds Israeli football. An incident in which he watched from the sidelines drove Landau out of his mind. This was the moment that ended Yossi Benyon’s path during his first term in Betar Jerusalem, when Bnei Ben Zaken stood on the team’s lines and did not share the game with him. “On the day Eli Tabib prevented Bnei Ben Zaken from entering the football legend, Liverpool player, C. Lesi, Arsenal, Yossi Benyon, as a substitute in the game against KS, I wore sackcloth and ashes. How dare you? – Unforgivable! “

One thing during the interview makes Gili Landau go back and ask for a new wording: Hapoel Tel Aviv today. His original choice of words is stored in the system. This is the alternative: “Their football makes me sad. The balance of victories, losses and goal difference which breaks negative records – all this indicates a colossal failure.”

Barak Bachar was your trainee and assistant as the coach of Kiryat Shmona. Look where he is today.
“‘Every man is jealous, except his son and his disciple’ … meaning – because he sees their achievement as his achievements. Meteor! His modesty only illuminates his success in higher lights!”

How do you see football today?
“The place does not make the person but the person makes the place. In our football there is a dire shortage of leaders with a floor rate and as a result he is weakened.”

What do you think about Eran Zehavi? “When he came to conquer Mea Shearim he said ‘I only scored 100 goals’, others said ‘we have already scored 100 goals’. “It’s something about the difference between ‘just’ and ‘already’, between a champion and an excellent.”

What is your game philosophy as a coach? “A clear tendency for an appraiser’s house. I played badly and won which means I played well. I played well and lost which means I played badly. I played well and won – what good. “

An extraordinary achievement that you are proud of?
“When I arrived at Maccabi Netanya in September, there was not a single player on its roster … Eight months later, the roster numbered 11 team players, two in the youth team, six in the Olympics and three in the senior team.”

How do you see the state of the country?
“A generation of impatient politicians has arisen from the whistleblowers, who are pumping news for the mornings” that the mute said the deaf heard that the blind man saw that the leper was running “… and believes that the more he repeats the lie he will become the truth. God forbid.”

What do you think about the dissolution of the unity government?
“A madman knocks on the door of a second madman, the madman in the house replies, ‘There is no one in the house.’

What do you think about Benjamin Netanyahu?
“Miriam Keren runs to hit a lifeguard from the line and with one kick scores two goals. Hello, is this a monarchy or a democracy?”

What about managing the corona crisis?
“For 40 years, the state has been saying to me and to my quantity, ‘What is mine is mine and half of what is yours is mine.’

What causes the mess?
“When in key roles sit donkeys on the standard of lions and rabbits on the standard of foxes and pretend to lead … No wonder the forest becomes a jungle and the chaos celebrates.”

What is success in your eyes?
“Peace of mind that comes from self-satisfaction, knowing that you have done your best for the sake of being the best you can be in the conditions in which you operated.”

What do you think about the affair of Micah and Noble?
“When the cock is standing – the mind in the panties.”

What’s the first sentence you say every morning?
“And from your wisdom to the Most High you will bestow on me and from your understanding you will understand.”

What are you most proud of? “In my family – my wife, my children, my grandchildren. “

How did your and your wife’s love story begin?
“The first whistle I whistled to my wife when I came to pick her up – oats in a field calling in the wind.”

So what’s your motto?
“As the poem puts it ‘What does it take a human being to live? One loaf of bread and one jug of wine, a bed to sleep in and if possible for two and love, love all the time.'”