As Maccabi’s most experienced player in the squad, Dor Peretz has been through a fair share of irregular spells at the club. The 30-year-old Maccabi captain faced the media ahead of the league’s return after an imposed break during the ongoing war with Iran. Reflecting on recent weeks which saw football take a back-seat, Peretz said: “We went through an unusual time. At first, we trained with an Israeli coaching staff. Ronny (Deila) and the staff returned, the foreign players came back, and the energy returned very quickly as well. The work in training and the seriousness reflect the point where we left off before the war. I am very happy with everyone who is here, all focus is on Sunday.”
“At the beginning of the war we were at home with our families,” Peretz added. “The foreign players later gathered in Cyprus, while we were here a few days after the war began. Thankfully, the work here followed the coaching staff’s guidelines, under the direction of Avi Rikan and Israel Kakun we had a great tempo, excellent training sessions, and good energy despite an unusual reality. We are trying to do the best we can, as we always do.”
On the return to league action during wartime, Peretz added: “It is not an ideal situation, let’s be honest. Everyone knows that, but it’s the right decision. We wish we could play in a full stadium without sirens, but that’s not the reality right now. This is the situation, and we have to deliver as much as we can.”
While Ali Camara, Tyrese Asante, Helio Varela and Issouf Sissokho are back with the team, several others are exoected to rejoin in the near future, as Peretz added: “I spoke with all of the foreign players in the first few days. It was important for me to stay in touch and give them confidence. It’s not a pleasant situation, I understand them, and that’s okay. Whoever is here will give their best, and that will be enough.”
On the mental challenge of playing without fans, Peretz admitted: “When there’s no fans we have to push ourselves as much as possible to recover in the best way between matches. There are no second chances.”
Ahead of Sunday’s match at Sammy Ofer, he said: “Hapoel Haifa are a completely different team since January. Our main objective is to win the match and do it in the best possible way. Long-term goals? Right now, in our current situation, that’s not relevant. We need to go game by game and produce the best football we can. There are 12 league matches and two cup games left, there’s no room to drop our standards”.
