Dor Peretz, completed a remarkable week as the Maccabi Tel Aviv captain successfully converted a 59t minute penalty on the way to a 4-1 victory over Ironi Tiberias. The 30-year-old who earlier in the week scored a brace for Israel in the dramatic 5-4 World Cup qualifying defeat to Italy, took his seasonal tally at Maccabi to 3 league goals and 5 in all competitions. After the game at Nof HaGalil, which kept Maccabi’s 100% record intact, Peretz who normally doesn’t take penalties but saw fellow teammates Sagiv Jehezkel and Ion Nicolaescu score, said: “I was happy to take the penalty; I was given the opportunity thanks to their generosity. It was a game we started well. We conceded a goal that didn’t really reflect the start of the match, but it was a naïve mistake we cannot afford to make. Thankfully, we kept the same spirit, turned the game around, and hopefully we will continue with this dominance we have shown for the second week in a row.”
Maccabi’s two new signings Kervin Andrade and Helio Varela both made their debut appearances for Maccabi, as the veteran captain said: “The new players who joined us recently are settling into the team, both socially and professionally. We saw that they understand what the coach demands from them and the principles of our game as socially it is also looking good. We are gradually bringing in very talented and hungry players who really embody Maccabi, and hopefully we continue like this.”
The match against Tiberias began a very busy fixture schedule which will see Maccabi play 7 matches in the space of 23 days in the domestic and Europa league: Hapoel Petah Tikva (16.9), Hapoel Jerusalem (20.9), PAOK (24.9), Bnei Sakhnin (28.9), Dinamo Zagreb (2.10), Maccabi Haifa (5.10).
On the busy schedule the team faces, Peretz added: “Every player has a big responsibility to recover properly and treat every match seriously as the most important match. It is the most cliché thing to say, but with three points and another three points, we will do our job. We need to take things seriously and rest between matches.”
On the transition between a high-profile match for the Israel national team to the compact ground at Nof HaGalil for an ordinary league match against Tiberias, Peretz said: “The league is our bread and butter. Honestly. You can experience very big peaks, and I assume we will have some in Europe, but the league is what gives us the privilege to reach those stages. It is a huge honor to represent the national team in these times, but this is what I work for every single day, and what matters most to me and to the team. This is our commitment”.
