Hapoel Be'er Sheva on the way to the most unexpected sensation | Column

With its not-so-unlimited tools — Kings Kangwa will be missed forever, two of the three attacking players were not good enough to be regular starters last season — Be'er Sheva tried yesterday against Sabah to take the first step toward the impossible. Not impossible in the specific sense — Sabah is a stubborn opponent, but not better than Be'er Sheva — but in the broad sense. 90 minutes from the Champions League: Hapoel Be'er Sheva won 2:1 against Sabah. If this turns out next week to be the seventh time an Israeli team qualifies for the biggest tournament in the world, it will be the most unexpected of them all.

It does not have Eran Zahavi at his peak as Maccabi Tel Aviv did in 2015, the offensive firepower of Maccabi Haifa in 2022, or the completeness of Hapoel Tel Aviv in 2010. Not Anthony Nwakaeme and Maor Melikson from the attempts in 2016 and 2017. It also has no home advantage. No Israeli team since Maccabi Haifa in 2002 has qualified for the Champions League without home advantage. No Israeli team since Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2004 has done so without a star or two in the front line.

And what does Be'er Sheva have? Not to disparage — on the contrary, to exalt. It has the wonderful Lucas Ventura and Eliel Peretz, but it also has one defender who was at times fourth in the rotation last season (Miguel Vitor), and another for whom last season was his first in the Premier League (Itay Rotman). It has a goalkeeper in goal who started the last two seasons as a substitute, and his renaissance is one of the most surprising stories in Israeli football. Its first substitute was a winger with an allergy to numbers (Amir Ganah). Reaching the Champions League with this team will simultaneously be the greatest achievement in Ran Kozuch's career, but also one that will divide it into "before" and "after", and not in a good way. What more could be done beyond that?

But before thinking about what to do beyond that, it needs to be done. The goal Be'er Sheva conceded in the sixth minute started with a rare mistake by Lucas Ventura — if individual plays were collectible cards, Ventura's clearance yesterday would be worth millions — and continued with poor closing by Pedro Amador. It was an uncharacteristic gift that Be'er Sheva handed out as if to make things difficult for itself, as if it were not difficult enough far from Turner and with a squad that will yet be more complete.

"It likes it difficult because nothing is difficult for it. If something were too difficult for it, it wouldn't be here in the first place."

It wouldn't have survived the loss to Vikingur in the first game, nor the meeting with Red Star Belgrade, nor the departure of Kangwa, nor the early deficit against Sabah. This is what Be'er Sheva does — it collects ends and prevents them from becoming the end. Next Tuesday it will not be the end. It will only be the beginning.