If Maccabi Netanya ends up in the top playoff, it will be an unusual achievement. With a budget cut in half, a new coach, an owner moving aside and returning, the Netanya crowd that could not as usual push the team and young and unknown players seemed to be on the club’s path to a difficult season. But reality has proven otherwise.
If the team with the third attack in the league relied mainly on Almog Cohen, Danny Amos, Chen Ezra and Shir Tzedek, in recent weeks another player has entered the equation: Yuval Sadeh. The latter will celebrate his 21st birthday this coming May and signed two goals that left Netanya a great chance to end the regular season in the top six. These are his first two goals in the Premier League, including in the seniors. They came in a draw against Maccabi Petah Tikva and in a victory over Bnei Yehuda, and both, by the way, with a touchdown.
“I remember there was a game between Hapoel Ramat Hasharon and Maccabi Herzliya when Yuval was ten years old and after the game I went to his mother and begged her to come and play for me,” says Amit Bublil, Who coached Sadeh in the children’s level, “he was a redheaded boy who played with goggles and I saw in him even then something special. He played striker, but I saw in him one thing. He was very dynamic, aggressive, a fighter and I decided to take him down to play in the link and cable. “
Sadeh played for Bublil until the age of 15. “He is a good boy. I called him the silent killer. He has extraordinary wisdom and is a man of hard work, a professional. He always told me ‘Bublil I will get to the Premier League at the end. I will be a player.’ And justice, “Bublil added.
The days in Ariel Sheiman’s Herzliya did not shine on a field. After starting his career as a striker and spinning the opposing defenses, a coach who did not believe in him arrived and the road to Ramat Hasharon was paved. To this day, Sheiman is a hit on sin, and Ramat Hasharon was the one who won.
At the age of 15, he passed into the hands of Oren Rotem, Once a player moved to Maccabi Tel Aviv and at that time the youth coach of Ramat Hasharon. “When I got him in my youth he was a coach player,” says Rotem, “one that you know what he will give you and these are things that others will not give. Very diverse, not excited about anything. Not the greatest talent, but a player who did not rest for a moment. Dor Peretz is also Not Avi Nemani and Dan Glazer, not Noam Shoham, but today they are looking for a rescue and a job and he has it. “
Rotem was appointed the alumni coach and did not forget Sadeh: “Football has changed and today he fits Bull for this football. When I coached the alumni in Ramat Hasharon I needed the same back contact, so I knew there was a kid who would do 12 miles in the game. He’s not playing sexy football or being too flashy, but his figures are good. He is responsible and mature in the game. Abram Grant would call him the silent leader. Yuval mentions Dan Glazer, Gal Alberman or Neta Lavie, something like this. To me he was born at the right time and at the right moment. The kind of player who is not looking for adventure, but wants to be the best at the things he does. I’m not at all surprised that he gets credit, it was clear to me that the break-in would come. “
Even before the graduates Sadeh received a summons for the youth team where he played three times under Nir Levin. After the season at Ramat Hasharon, he caught the eye of Eyal Segal and Niv Goldstein. He, along with Ron Ashkenazi, were acquired for a million shekels, with 30 percent of their player card remaining with the team from the national team.
With Slobodan Drapic and Shai Barda, he played little, so he preferred to return to Ramat Hasharon. When Raymond Atfeld arrived and saw him before the season, he was enthusiastic. Until a month ago, it should be noted, he mostly saw the game from the bench.Omri Gandelman impressed and Sadeh moved away from the rotation.In the last two games he has received the credit and returned twice.
“I told Yuval that I feel I believe in him more than he believes in himself,” he commented Atfeld For the talented player andHaim Shabu, Who coached the seniors at Ramat Hasharon and was the first to promote him to a senior team, also at the expense of another season in the youth, said: “I saw a special player. What impressed me most of all was that he was not afraid to play football. Very aggressive and intelligent in his game. Extracts balls in the mind, comes forward excellently and is an option to score. I told the heads of Ramat Hasharon – this is not a youth player, he has nothing to look for there, I bounce him straight to the seniors. I remember the first training game against Hapoel Petah Tikva. We won 0: 3 and he scored. Today I enjoy seeing him in Netanya and I am sure he has not reached even a tenth of his potential. The climax is before him. “
Sadeh, who has been represented by Idan Ben Abu since his youth, has a contract for another season with Netanya’s option to extend the contract for another two years. According to the ability in recent rounds and how Netanya cultivates talents and sells them, he too will very quickly become a sought-after player.
On the personal side, Field’s friends say he is not missing Liverpool’s games and that he is trying to emulate his model, Steven Gerrard. In Netanya, they add that if last season he did not utter a word, lately he has been behaving less shyly and after one of the games he was even sent to the microphones and passed the hurdle successfully. Against Hapoel Hadera, another hurdle awaits him. If he passes it, he and his friends from Netanya are already planning their way to the top playoffs.