After three victories from the opening three league matches Maccabi Tel Aviv dropped points as Ashdod which held the Yellow and Blue to a 0-0 draw. Daniel Peretz, who kept a clean sheet for the third match this season, summed up what happened on the pitch at the Yud Alef stadium and related to the issue of his international call-up.
The 22-year-old keeper said after the game which saw his side miss a first half penalty before VAR denied Maccabi a late winner by disallowing a goal for offside: “I am not broken at all. This is part of football. We could have won the game as we were the better side, created plenty of chances against a side that defended a lot and made our lives difficult. Sadly, the ball didn’t go in”.
Peretz, who was named man of the match for another spectacular save he made which kept his goal locked once again, added: “Obviously I would prefer if another player would have been named man of the match and we would have scored goals and won the game but it doesn’t always happen. We struggled a bit today upfront, but still could have won the game as we created chances in the first half and had we scored the game would have developed completely different”.
Peretz, who has been a regular with Israel’s Under 21’s but has been on the verge of a call-up to the senior side, said: “I feel ready and its’ a privilege to represent your country and play for either the national team or the U21’s. I will play for whichever team that calls me up. I will accept this with open arms and just be happy to represent either team. They are both two amazing stages and as a player of Israel’s national teams I will be happy to represent my country”.
On the disappointment of celebrating a late goal which was chalked off by VAR, Peretz revealed: “I was delighted when we scored that 90th minute goal which was a reward for all our efforts throughout the game. But when the referee started making his way towards the VAR screen I guessed what was about to happen because they only do so when it is a 100% certain. We still had 8 minutes and I believed we are capable of scoring but ultimately it didn’t happen”.
Looking ahead at the remainder of the season, Perretz said: “A season is a marathon and we know we can’t win every match even though this is what we aim for. We are realistic enough to know that it will not happen. Ashdod are a tough side and we know they will cause other teams problems especially in this stadium”
