Maccabi suffered a painful defeat in the Toto Cup Final losing 2-3 to bitter city rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv.
Maccabi’s captain Dor Peretz who scored a late brace which wasn’t enough to complete what would have been an amazing comeback, was in no mood to celebrate scoring his 100th goal for the club.
After the match, Peretz faced the TV cameras and took full responsibility on behalf of his teammates for the performance which allowed Hapoel take a three goal lead and the lessons that need to be learned going forward. “You don’t deserve to win when you don’t get the basics right” Peretz said. “I’m extremely disappointed and frustrated, not just with the result but with our performance tonight,” he added. “To turn up like that in a derby, which is a Toto Cup final, is simply not good enough. I don’t have much more to add to that.”
The defeat in the derby came on the back of a 6-2 victory over Hapoel Haifa which took Maccabi to the top of the table, but Peretz remained adamant there was nothing wrong with the way in which the team approached the game. “The coaching staff’s preparation was excellent. The responsibility lies entirely with us, the players. We weren’t good enough. Winning tackles is the basic requirement of the game, and we didn’t do that today. Getting back to defend as one team is fundamental, and we didn’t do that either. When you don’t bring those basics onto the pitch, you simply don’t deserve to win.”
The 31-year-old skipper who midway through the first half was fouled in the box without a response from referee Snir Levy, was adamant about the decision: “As far as everyone was concerned, that was 100% a penalty.”
On the lessons learned from losing the Final and the effect it might have going forward, Peretz said: “It taught us that the moment we take our foot off the gas, we’re simply not good enough. If any one of us thinks we’re good enough without working hard, that will be our biggest problem.”
On how the team should recover from the disappointment and get back on track, Peretz concluded: “Right now, we’re coming together and allowing ourselves to feel disappointed about tonight, because it hurts. But immediately afterwards, we’ll know how to bounce back, lift our heads and return the way we should.”
