Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel), 1966-68

In June 1968, Maccabi Tel Aviv took the league title in Israel. It wasn’t their best season in history by a long shot. In 1954 and 1958 for example, they hadn’t lost a match the whole season, while this time around they lost more than ten. This title was special for different reasons: starting in September 1966 and ending 21 months later it was one of the most time-consuming leagues in history.  Maccabi Tel Aviv had to play no less than 60 matches to claim it.

League in turmoil

In the summer of 1966 things got very tense in the Israeli soccer world. There was (too) much rivalry between the Hapoel-teams and the Maccabi-teams, causing riots on the field and rumors of match fixing. On top of that, the Israeli FA wasn’t pleased with the level of play. They made a drastic decision: the league would continue for two years with every of the sixteen clubs playing each other four times. By taking away the immediate threat of relegation for a year, they expected clubs to be more inclined to incorporate youth players in their team. Concerned about the match fixing, they also decided to let the Hapoel-teams (five in the league) and Maccabi-teams (seven in the league) start the season playing each other, and repeated that at the start of the second part of the season. This way it was impossible that two teams with the same ‘background’ would meet in the league-deciding closing matches.

Difficult beginnings

Maccabi Tel Aviv at first seemed to be a victim of this rule. They got off on a very bumpy ride against their fellow Maccabi-teams, drawing four of their first six matches and losing the other two. But then things got much better. Starting with a 5-0 win over Maccabi Netanya on November 12, 1966 (goals from Giyora Shpigel (2), Moshe Asis (2) and Eli Sandler), Maccabi Tel Aviv won nine times and only shared the points twice in eleven consecutive matches. Especially Rachamim Talbi was on a roll, scoring almost every match.

Six Day War

Giyora Shpigel

At the end of May 1967, Maccabi Tel Aviv had played 26 matches and collected 35 points, with most goals coming from Rachamim Talbi (12), Giyora Shpigel (11) and Moshe Asis (6). Shpigel (also known as Giora Spiegel) of course later had a great career abroad, playing for Olympique Lyon and Racing Strasbourg in France.

Then the Six Day War early June 1967 prevented the league from continuing. As a result, the last four matches had to be played before the official start of the second part of this two-year experiment.

Decision on match day 58

The yellow and blues of Maccabi Tel Aviv had a worse second part in this marathon. Only three times they scored more than two goals, and with a record of fifteen wins, eight draws and seven losses, at the end they stayed just three point ahead of Hapoel Petach Tikva. On match day 58, June 8^th 1968, their home win against their rivals proved decisive.

In front of 8,000 spectators at the Hammacabia stadium coach Israel Halivner sent these eleven Maccabi-players onto the field:  Levin, Karako, Rozen, Belo, Gershovish, Asis, Bachar, Shikva, Shpigel, Talbi and Bar Nur. In the end, Dror Bar Nur scored in the 64^th and 89^th minute, securing Maccabi a 2-0 victory over Hapoel Petah Tikva.

Below are the 24 Maccabi Tel Aviv-players that won the longest championship in Israeli history:

Player	Position	Born	Matches/goals 1966-67	Matches/goals 1967-68	Total 1966-68
Haim Levin	Goalkeeper	1937	26 - 0	26 - 0	52 - 0
Asher Gertler	Goalkeeper	Unknown	3 - 0	4 - 0	7 - 0
Menahem Belo	Defender	1947	30 - 0	26 - 0	56 - 0
Michael Gershovish	Defender	Unknown	21 - 0	22 - 1	43 - 1
David Karako	Defender	1945	22 - 2	27 - 0	49 - 2
Tzvika Rozen	Defender	1947	28 - 0	21 - 0	49 - 0
Amos Zelotolov	Defender	Unknown	26 - 1	22 - 0	48 - 1
Avraham Melsman	Defender	Unknown	11 - 0	3 - 0	14 - 0
Shlomo Chepnik	Defender	Unknown	1 - 0	2 - 0	3 - 0
Moshe Asis	Midfielder	1943	29 - 6	27 - 1	56 - 7
Nissim Bachar	Midfielder	1943	10 - 1	20 - 0	30 - 1
Rafi Baranes	Midfielder	Unknown	25 - 1	10 - 0	35 - 1
Uri Kedmi	Midfielder	Unknown	13 - 2	23 - 4	36 - 6
Eli Pharchiya	Midfielder	Unknown	9 - 3	14 - 1	23 - 4
Eli Sandler	Midfielder	Unknown	15 - 3	12 - 1	27 - 4
Shalom Shikva	Midfielder	Unknown	13 - 4	13 - 4	26 - 8
Yakov Kestenboim	Midfielder	Unknown	6 - 0	8 - 0	14 - 0
Eli Bibi	Midfielder	Unknown	0 - 0	1 - 0	1 - 0
Hayim Levi	Midfielder	Unknown	1 - 0	---	1 - 0
Ehud Fredi Shochet	Midfielder	Unknown	---	2 - 0	2 - 0
Ezra Ozeri	Midfielder	Unknown	---	4 – 0	4 - 0
Giyora Shpigel	Forw/Mid	1947	28 - 13	23 - 11	51 - 24
Dror Bar Nur	Forward	1948	4 - 0	12 - 4	16 - 4
Rachamim Talbi	Forward	1943	29 - 12	29 - 6	58 - 18

Mordechai Spiegler 

While Maccabi Tel Aviv deserved the title as a team, Mordechai Spiegler of Maccabi Netanya was Player of the Year, although this time not official. Spiegler (born July 27, 1947) was already awarded the title the previous season, and would win it again in 1969, 1970 and 1971. During the 1966-68 season the striker scored a total of 38 goals (15 goals in the first part, 23 in the second). He also was the national top goalscorer in 1966 (together with Moshe Romano on 17 goals), and 1969 (25 goals), so Spiegler was not new to acquiring trophies. A few years later Spiegler went to France to play for Paris FC and Paris Saint Germain, ending his adventure at New York Cosmos in the American NASL. 

Asian Champions Cup 1969

By clinching the title, Maccabi Tel Aviv got a treat for the year ahead: they were allowed to take part in the second ever Asian Champions Cup. Rival Hapoel Petach Tikva had won the first edition in 1967, so Maccabi was compelled to perform well. And so they did, in January 1969 in Bangkok. While Giyora Shpigel was undoubtedly the man of the tournament, scoring six times, it was again Dror Bar Nur who made the all important goal in the final.

Date	Opponent	Score	Goalscorers Maccabi Tel Aviv
15-01-1969	Toyo Kogyo (Japan)	3-2	Shpigel, Shikva, Asis
19-01-1969	Kowloon Motor Bus Co. (Hong Kong)	5-0	Shpigel (2), Asis (2), Shikva
22-01-1969	Perak (Malaysia)	1-1	Cohen
26-01-1969	Teheran Police (Iran)	0-0
28-01-1969	Mysore State (India)	6-1	Shpigel (3), Talbi, Shikva, Cohen
30-01-1969	Yangzee (South Korea)	1-0	Dror Bar Nur

From Asia to Europe

After this success, Maccabi Tel Aviv also won the 1971 edition of the Asian Champions Cup. They didn’t need to play the final, as Iraqi club Al Shourta withdrew from the match and the Cup wasn’t played again for fifteen years. It became increasingly difficult to get Islamic clubs to compete against the Israeli clubs. Ultimately it was set-backs like these, that forced the FIFA and UEFA to put the Israeli national team and their clubs into the European zone.

The fierce opposition from Europe certainly raised the level of play in Israel. At the same time, it transformed Israel from a prominent soccer country in Asia, into a mediocre European competitor, with the odds of winning new prizes and playing on the world stage at a minimum. Playing against Asian opposition the national team won the Asian Cup in 1964, qualified for the Olympic Games in 1968 and 1976, and even got to compete at the World Cup in 1970, in Mexico. Of course this theory could be easily proven wrong if Israel would qualify for the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, which at the moment is not impossible at all.

(Escape to) Victory, 1981

From left to right: Pelé, Wark, Stallone, Prins, Caine,
some German player and Lindsted.

Back in 1981, the USA had experienced more than ten years of decent league competitions in their own North American Soccer League (NASL). At the time, Americans fully understood how exciting a soccer match could be, even if goals (points) were limited, compared to basketball and American Football. Combined with a heroic escape from imprisonment in WWII, big Hollywood stars John Huston (director), Sylvester Stallone and Michael Caine adapted a Hungarian movie into Escape to Victory (in the United States simply called Victory) and invited both famous and less famous real life soccer players to join the cast.

Plot Summary

A soccer match between the German national team and a team of POWs is used by the German Nazis for propaganda - to show the world they are superior. That game is played in Paris, and an escape plan is set up for the match, with the French resistance digging a tunnel from the sewer system straight into the dressing room of the POW-team, enabling them to flee underground. In the end, the soccer players don't use the sewer but decide to stay and finish the match. After the game ends, the crowd of French spectators pour onto the field causing confusion as they hide the players amongst them, swapping clothes with the players, so they can get away safe and without being noticed.

The Match

Back row: Osman, van Himst, Summerbee, Stallone, Wark,
Deyna, Lindsted.
Front row: Thoresen, Ardiles, Caine, Pelé, Moore, Prins.

At first it looks like the Germans have nothing to fear from the Allied players. Playing rough and mean (as you'd expect them to) they easily get a 4-0 lead. At halftime the escape tunnel is ready, but the POWs want to stay and finish the game, confident they can win; at the same time risking their one and only opportunity to get away. With Pelé injured on the bench, the POWs score three goals. Then, Pelé, holding his injured stomach, returns onto the field. He starts dribbling away like he has no teammates, but does score with a wonderful overhead kick. That levels the score 4-4. The 5-4 lead, by Belgian Paul van Himst, is disallowed for dubieus reasons. In the very last minute, Osvaldo Ardiles makes a late tackle, causing a penalty for the Germans. German captain Baumann, played by Werner Roth, takes it, but Sylvester Stallone (cheered on by the French crowd) saves it brilliantly and gets the team their well deserved draw.
It's obvious that the movie means every star in the movie to have his moment of glory. So Stallone saves the penalty, and the goals from the POW-team are scored by the three World Champions Bobby Moore, Osvaldo Ardiles and Pelé (the all-important last one), and by rising star John Wark. Especially the goals by Moore and Ardiles are a bit strange, as they really didn't score that many goals during their career in real life.

The Players

This was the POWs lineup at the start of the match:

Stallone

Paul van Himst - Michael Caine - Co Prins - Russell Osman

Bobby Moore - John Wark - Osvaldo Ardiles

Mike Summerbee - Pelé - Sören Lindsted

During the match - although substitutions wasn't part of the game in those days - Kazimierz Deyna replaced John Wark and Co Prins was substituted by Hallvar Thoresen.

It's interesting to see who all participated in this movie. The soccer players that were invited, ranged from the   world famous to the barely known.  First and foremost, the movie obviously had to have some appealing soccer players. Pelé (World Champion 1958,1962 and 1970), Bobby Moore (World Champion 1966) and Osvaldo Ardiles (World Champion 1978) fitted that description. Other big stars were Polish legendary number 10 Kazimierz Deyna, Belgium's all-time best Paul van Himst and Ipswich Town-star John Wark (14 goals in the winning 1980-81 UEFA-Cup campaign with Ipswich).
The producers were also looking for soccer players from other countries that were occupied during World War Two. So Norwegian Hallvar Thoresen was asked and he brought along his Danish teammate from Dutch club FC Twente, Sören Lindsted. The latter not being first pickings, but accepted after Allan Simonssen and the likes, rejected the offer. Interestingly, Co Prins (nearly 43 years old at the time, and not all that famous) was approached to represent The Netherlands. World Cup-stars like Willem van Hanegem, Johan Neeskens or Wim Rijsbergen (all of them played in the NASL) would have been more suitable. Having Pelé already on board asking Johan Cruijff wasn't a real possibility, as it would only cause friction between the two best players of the world, regarding their role in the movie - as only one can score the final goal. Finally, Yugoslavia-born American Werner Roth played the German captain and was invited as Pelé's teammate at New York Cosmos.

Ardiles, Stallone, Pelé, Caine and Moore

To complete the team, the producers paid a visit to an Ipswich Town training (they already had John Wark on their list) asking if anyone would like to participate. Russell Osman, Mike Summerbee, Kevin O'Callaghan, Kevin Beattie (stand-in for Michael Caine), Paul Cooper (stand-in for Sylvester Stallone), Laurie Sivell (as the German goalie Schmidt) and Robin Turner all said yes. The first five all had decent careers in soccer, but for Sivell and Turner - being part of (Escape to) Victory - was definitely their highlight of their soccer days.

The Trivia

*The movie was a remake of a Hungarian movie, Két félidö a pokolban - Two halftimes in Hell, loosely based on a true story. The film stated - for cinematographic and dramatic reasons - that all Dynamo Kyiv-players were shot after one match they won against a German team. The real story is that the Ukrainian team played a series of matches against German opposition while being occupied, winning them all. After that, the whole team was made prisoners of war, of which in the end only a few survived.

* The scenes at the soccer stadium are shot in Budapest, Hungary, the home ground of MTK Budapest.

* Legendary goalkeeper (and World Champion 1966) Gordon Banks taught Sylvester Stallone the basics of goalkeeping.

* It took some lengthy and persuasive discussions to convince Sylvester Stallone that it would be unrealistic if he as a goalie would score the final goal.

* Most players didn't take acting too seriously. More than once the Ipswich Town-players showed up at the movie set with a hangover from the night before. Polish midfielder Kazimierz Deyna topped the team by drinking vodka as were it lemonade.

* English actor Michael Caine couldn't play soccer to save his life.

* After trying (and failing) over a hundred times, it was decided that Pelé's overhead kick would be filmed in different shots. Pelé would just have to throw the ball into the air until he got it right.

* Hard-boiled actor and former soccer player Vinnie Jones has been planning to do a remake of the movie  for over three years, with possibly David Beckham in a star-role, given his popularity in the USA. Most people think it's a bad idea.