I had one sentence in my head when I finished Maccabi Haifa’s game last night, also with my face towards the game of Maccabi Tel Aviv on Monday. He was drawn from the world of elections in the United States – “Too Close To Call”. In America he is remembered mainly because of the 2000 election, in which Florida was “too close to decide” (in English it always sounds better) for weeks, until the court ruling that gave George W. Bush the victory (in Dardale). And so, too, the championship battle before us – we all need patience, and responsibility, and especially an understanding that the story is far from over. also now. Even when it seems that Maccabi Tel Aviv Otto is conquering the summit.
But if Maccabi Tel Aviv, in the end, conquers the summit – and if the public feeling, which exists not only in Bloomfield but also elsewhere, that from the moment the Yellows rise to first place, they no longer fall from it, will be true – it will be the victory of depth. In the end, Maccabi Haifa succumbed to the shortage of its staff – the inability to get itself air in the crucial stages. To use a military metaphor – Maccabi Haifa’s weapons in the first line are quite strong, but its outfields are very problematic. And the attacking game is completely lost.One injury or absence on defense, and you lose at home.
Patrick Van Leven can pull off his bench, in times of crisis, Avi Rikan or Matan Hozaz or even Eduardo Guerrero. Players that can be slipped into the lineup, and you will not feel the difference. Barak Bachar, on the other hand, has a wall that he encounters in terms of staff. This season it will be too late to make the necessary repairs, and especially to thicken the craft, but the Greens can only hope that what she has – will suffice in the last miles of the marathon, when all players will return from injuries and dismissals (and here it remains to ask – how they will return).
So why “Too Close To Call” after all? Because in the end, we have not yet seen how Maccabi Tel Aviv copes with the pressure. The bad opening under Yorgos Donis, and the big gap that opened at the top put it in a very comfortable place – a place where you can put together a streak of victories, without anyone blowing your back. If the Yellows really rise to first place, the pressure will be reversed – and here Van Leven’s team, deep and talented as it is, will have to stand the test in order to achieve a third consecutive championship.
And in the end, everything will fall into place in the playoffs – and in the two direct meetings there. It is important to remember: even last season, until the playoffs (and the Corona), the picture between Maccabi Haifa of confusion and Ivica’s big Maccabi Tel Aviv was close. The huge gap opened when the Greens came back, especially in clashes between the teams in which Tel Aviv won easily. The burden of proof still stands on Haifa, to prove that things have changed between May 2020 and May 2021. Now, it seems, this duty is becoming more tangible than ever.
