A day after landing in Baku ahead of the Conference League 2nd qualifying round first leg against Zira at the Dalga Arena, Sheran Yeini spoke about the excitement of starting another European campaign.

The 35-year-old who will begin his 18th season at the club and could make his 77th international appearance said: “I am always excited to begin a new season as a European campaign is always tough and challenging regardless of the opponents you are drawn against. We must always be prepared and at our utmost concentration level because matches like this are always tough”.

Yeini, who is the sole survivor of the squad who faced Xazar Lankaran in 2011 added: “We played against several Azeri teams in recent years and all the matches against them were tough so I am not expecting anything different this time round. They are a dangerous opponent with quick forwards who could cause us problems which means we will have to remain focused. I hope to win the match and kill the tie already here”.

Maccabi will miss several key players through injury as Idan Nachmias missed a list of absentees which already include Eran Zahavi, Nir Bitton, Dan Glazer and Shahar Piven, but Yeini remained adamant: “We believe in ourselves and our ability. We have key players missing but I am sure we will earn them during the rest of the season and I am confident we will manage without them”.

On the motivation the team will arrive at the game, Yeini, concluded: “Our motivation for this match is high as we want to win every match in every competition both domestic and international. Matches here in Azerbaijan are always tough and if my memory serves me right we drew our last two matches away to Azeri sides so we are expecting a tough match tomorrow”

Maccabi Tel Aviv Apollon Limassol reached an agreement for a one season long loan deal of Ido Shahar until the end of the 2022/23 season.

Ido Shahar (20) a product of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Youth Academy who made last season 12 appearances for the senior side in all competitions including 8 in the Conference League before joining Maccabi Petah Tikva in January where he scored 5 goals in 17 appearances during a loan spell.

Shahar, who made his senior Maccabi debut against Bnei Sakhnin in the Toto Cup Final of the 2020/21 season, is a member of the Israel U21’s squad for which he scored 2 goals in 13 appearances in addition to representing Israel’s young national teams on 45 International occasions.

Since 2014

PFC Zira is a relatively new club which was established in 2014 and immediately began playing in the Azeri top flight. The team which finished last season 3^rd in the league table of Azerbaijan, 22 points behind champions Qarabag and a goal tally of 33-27.

Zira played one campaign in Europe during the 2017/18 season where they advanced past Luxembourg outfit Differdange 03 in the Europa League 1^st qualifying round but were knocked out in the next stage by Astra Giurgiu.

This season Zira host Maccabi for the first leg at the Dalga Arena in Baku which has a capacity of 6500 fans.

An Azeri legend on the touchlines

Just like Maccabi, Zira have yet to begin their domestic campaign as they are coached by Rashad Farhad oglu Sadigov. Fourty-year-old Sadigov is a legend in Azerbaijan having represented his country in 111 international matches. He spent most of his playing career in Azerbaijan as well as enjoying stints in Iran and Turkey. After two years as the Youth team coach of Qarabag (2016-2018), Sadigov coached Azerbaijan’s U-21’s for 2 years before being appointed as the Head Coach of Zira in 2020.

Zira’s key players

Despite the fact that Azeri clubs do not have a limit on the number of foreign players, most of Zira’s players are local. As well as several players who received Azeri citizenship, they have six foreign players in their squad.

Upfront Zira have two forwards in Dutch winger Mohamed Mo Hamdaoui and Belgian striker Loris Brogno.

A key player who left Zira is Georgian striker Davit Volkovi who scored last season a third of his team’s tally (11). Frenchman midfielder Hamidou Keyta who sometimes plays upfront and scored 5 goals in 14 league matches last season will try and fill his shoes.

At the back Zira has two foreigners which worth a mention in 27-yeaer-old Greek central defender Dimitrios Chantakias and his Serbian defensive partner Nemanja Andjelkovic. Last season however and despite his young age, Jalal Huseynov (19) made 26 appearances at the heart of Zira’s defence allowing Andjelkovic to play at right back.

 

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A new European campaign gets underway. Maccabi Tel Aviv jetted out this evening (Tuesday) to Azerbaijan ahead of the Conference League second qualifying round first leg against Zira.

 

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The coaching and playing staff as well as other club officials arrived at Ben Gurion Airport from where the team took off to the capital of Azerbaijan. Earlier in the morning Vladimir Ivic had his charges go through their paces as the team held a training session at the PenguinPickUp training complex in Kiryat Shalom.

On Wednesday the team will shift a gear in their preparations for the match as they will hold the pre-match Press Conference at the Dalga Arena followed by the final practice session.

Anar Ushmandi signed a new three-year-deal at Maccabi Tel Aviv with an option to extend. The midfielder who joined the Youth Academy at the age of 12, will remain at the club until the end of the 2024/25 season.

The midfielder who scored 8 goals in 51 appearances in all competitions for Maccabi Tel Aviv ‘Shahar’ over the past two seasons, represented Israel’s young national teams at U-16’s, U-17’s and U-19’s levels and has a total of 20 international appearances.

Shon Edri (186 cm) signed a new three-year-deal at Maccabi Tel Aviv with an option to extend, a fact which would keep him at the club until the end of the 2024q25 season.

The defender who made over the past two seasons 53 appearances in all competitions for Maccabi Tel Aviv ‘Shahar’, featured for Israel U-19’s this summer during the European Championship Finals and has 19 international appearances.

Ronen Hanzis will join Beitar Jerusalem until the end of the 2022/23 season, after an agreement was reached between the two clubs for the loan deal of the 20-year old forward.

Hanzis made two appearances last season for Maccabi Tel Aviv before featuring in 8 league matches for Hapoel Nof Hagallil during a 6-month-long loan spell.

A day before traveling to Baku ahead of Thursday’s Conference 2^nd qualifying round first leg against PFC Zira, Maccabi’s potential next opponents was drawn at UEFA’s Headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

Should Vladimir Ivic’s side advance past the team from Azerbaijan, they face the winner between Gomel of Belarus and Greek outfit Aris Thessaloniki. The first leg of that tie will see Aris host Gomel at the Kleanthis Vikelidis stadium in Thessaloniki before the Belarusian side play the return leg at the same venue on Wednesday July 27^th.

The 2nd qualifying round is played on July 21st & 28^th with the 3^rd qualifying round scheduled for August 4^th & 11^th. Ties take place on August 4^th & 11^th with extra time and a penalty shoot-out if required after the second leg. Winners advance to the Europa Conference League Play-Offs on August 18^th and 25^th.

Maccabi’s players didn’t hide their disappointment after their Toto Cup exit to Maccabi Netanya in a dramatic penalty shoot-out at the 2022/23 curtain raiser.

Goalkeeper Daniel Peretz, who skept his goal locked throughout the 90 minutes, saved a penalty but still ended the tie on the losing end, said: “It is disappointing to reach the penalty shoot-out and lose. This is football. Maccabi Netanya played a good game especially in the first half. We didn’t start the first half well, mainly due to Netanya’s pressure but in the second half we played much better, reached some chances but didn’t convert them”.

With one title now gone, Peretz added ahead of the rest of the campaign: “We obviously want to win the league title as well as the Cup and with regards to Europe we have our first match next week and will try and reach as far as possible in the competition”.