'When you play against them, there's no time you can take off.' After starting in the U.S. lower divisions, Maccabi Haifa goalkeeper Josh Cohen is relishing his chance to play PSG, Juventus and Benfica in UCL 📝 jeffrueter
Jeff RueterFour years ago, you would’ve had a hard time convincing Josh Cohen that he would soon be facing Lionel Messi in the Champions League.
At the time, he was keeping goal for Sacramento Republic in the second-division USL Championship. Granted, he was a finalist for the league’s Goalkeeper of the Year award, ultimately landing on the USL All-League Second Team. MLS teams didn’t come calling for his services, and he prepared for a second season with a team located just a couple of hours northeast of his hometown in Mountain View.
However, a move to Maccabi Haifa in the Israeli Premier League has done wonders for his career trajectory. Now a two-time league champion, Cohen won the league’s Player of the Year award in 2020-21, besting field players and goalkeepers alike. That season also saw him play against Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League playoffs, giving him a first test against a great European side — which, as we now know, would not be his last.
“Coming from playing D-II college soccer all the way up through USL and now here, I think it makes me appreciate it a little bit more,” Cohen told The Athletic after a long day traveling back to Haifa from Turin, Italy last week. “This is far and away the highest level I’ve played at, and the experience of it all is also the most grandiose that I’ve experienced. It definitely feels that way in the moment, from sitting with the team watching the draw for these games.
As Maccabi Haifa sits halfway through its Group H fixture list, Cohen spoke about his first experience playing against three of Europe’s great clubs.
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