Category: News

Shamir: “A new coach brings more energies with him”

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Shamir summed up the feeling in the camp over the past few days and said: “The feeling is great. A new coach always brings with him something different – energies. I am delighted we arrived today and made it easy for ourselves. Many teams fall at matches like that but we managed to turn it easy as now we are waiting for Wednesday’s league match”.

Shamir, who joined Maccabi on loan in the summer, spoke of his spell so far: “I feel as if I need to receive more playing time, but whoever knows me would tell you that I am not a player of complaints and facial expressions as I always give a 100% and show that I deserve the chance. Our job is not to comment on the decisions of coaches from the side, but this is our work and I turn up every morning and do what I need to do and try and grab the chances I am given with two hands. A match like today was a very important one for me, because I needed to show that I could be counted on, especially with a new coach in charge. I must take every chance I am given and prove to everyone that I deserve to receive more playing time”

MACCABI BEAT MARMOREK 4-0

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Preview

Newly appointed coach Mladen Krstajic arrived at Bloomfield stadium for the State Cup tie against third division outfit Hapoel Marmorek in what is his first match in charge. Krstajic, had a depleted squad at his disposal as no less than six players dropped out of the squad due to illness. Shahar Piven who is recovering from a leg injury was joined on the absentees list by Tal Ben Chaim, Sheran Yeini, Ofir Davidzada, Enric Saborit, Ido Shahar and Dan Biton.

Krstajic, who watched the team’s last two matches on TV before his unveiling on Wednesday, guided the team for three training sessions prior to the match. With a league encounter at home against Bnei Sakhnin on Wednesday, Krstajic gave a chance to several players who didn’t enjoy too much playing time to impress him in live action. Daniel Peretz kept his place in goal with Idan Nachmias and Luis Hernandez as the two central defenders right in front of the 21-year-old keeper. Maor Kandil at right-back and Matan Baltaxa on the left side of defence completed the back-four. Eden Shamir was assigned to the defensive midfield role, while Avi Rikan who led the team out with the captain’s armband joined him in the midfield engine room allowing Gabi Kanichowsky a more attacking role. Eylon Almog and Brandley Kuwas were assigned to both wings in support of Osama Khalaila who led the line upfront.

Due to all the absentees, Maccabi were missing a substitute on the bench as Daniel Tenenbaum, Dan Glazer, Matan Hozez, Stipe Perica, Eyal Golasa, Ronen Hanzis, Andre Gerlades and Eduardo Guerrero all waited on the bench for their call-up.

First Half

Marmorek began the match aggressively as David Marten’s third division side showed no signs of fear in the opening minutes. A counter attack which began with Gabi Kanichowsky and Avi Rikan in the 7th minute led to Maccabi’s first chance. Eylon Almog and Matan Baltaxa combined well down the left before the latter’s cut-back found Kanichowsky whose attempt of a shot was collected by Amit Keren. Two minutes later at the opposite end, Marmorek came close to score a goal themselves with a free kick which was headed goal-bound only for Daniel Peretz to catch the ball that looked dangerous enough. The longer the match proceeded Maccabi looked more and more dominant until taking the lead in the 19th minute through Idan Nachmias. The tall defender timed his run well to meet Kanichowsky’s free kick before burying the header past Keren and break the deadlock.

Osama Khalaila almost double the lead on 22 as he was released by Rikan into the area before firing a right foot low drive that was agonisingly deflected for a corner. Two minutes later a left foot Brandley Kuwas shot from the edge of the area, forced Keren to stretch himself and deny the Curaçao international. A well drilled corner on 32 released Almog on the edge of the area but his shot was deflected for a corner which began a series of three corners as Maccabi increased the pressure on Marmorek.

Elad Ashram was the first player to go into the book of referee Dekel Tzino for a tackle from behind on Kuwas in the 37th minute. With no further incidents before the interval, the halftime whistle sent both teams to warm up in the dressing rooms during the break.

Second Half

Four minutes after the restart Maccabi doubled their lead as Eden Shamir flicked Kanichowsky’s corner into the path of Khalaila who fired the ball in at the far post. Almog almost made it three two minutes later after Kanichowsky carved Marmorek’s defence open, but his shot sailed to the wrong side of the post.

In the 56th minute, Rikan was rewarded for his efforts as Almog, cut the ball back for the veteran midfielder who beat Keren with a perfect shot that found the bottom far corner and made it 3-0.

Khalaila came close to double his tally on the night as he toyed with Keren but failed to get a shot on target while Kanichowsky hit the side netting a minute later.

Krstajic made a triple change in the 63rd minute as Nachmias, Kanichowsky and Kuwas all bowed out and were replace by Matan Hozez, Eyal Golasa and Eduardo Guerrero.

Six minutes after his introduction Guerrero increased Maccabi’s lead to 4-0 as Almog sent the Panamanian forward into the Marmorek area before he slid the ball between the legs of the stranded Keren. Stipe Perica replaced Khaliala and Ronen Hanzis came in for Rikan as Krstajic used his fourth and fifth substitutions in the 72nd minute. Both substitutes combined in less than a minute as Hanzis let a square ball from Hozez run and reach Perica but the tall Croat striker shot wide.

In the closing stages Maccabi’s forwards tried increasing the score, but none of their efforts resulted in another goal.

Maccabi now enter tomorrow’s round of 16 draw at the IFA Headquarters before discovering who will be their next opponents.

The State Cup journey gets underway: Maccabi face Marmorek

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The defence of the State Cup gets underway as Maccabi Tel Aviv begin their 2021/22 campaign at Bloomfield stadium against Hapoel Marmorek of the third tier.

Maccabi enter this stage of the competition (Round of 32) together with the rest of the top flight clubs as the current holders having beaten Hapoel Tel Aviv in last season’s dramatic Cup final.

After his unveiling on Wednesday as Maccabi’s new Head Coach, Mladen Krstajic, who was forced to watch his charges twice on TV, against Alashkert in the Conference league and Hapoel Hadera in the league – will make his debut on the touchlines.

Video: Last season’s State Cup final highlights.

Whilst in the middle of an extremely demanding fixture list over the month of December, Maccabi arrives at the State Cup tie on the back of a 3-0 league win over Hapoel Hadera that concluded the first league round. After recording a victory over Beitar Jerusalem in the league, Maccabi that qualified to the Conference League Round of 16 will aim to continue the positive momentum in domestic competitions by advancing to the Round of 16 in the State Cup as well. With fixtures coming thick and fast, Bnei Sakhnin travel to Bloomfield stadium on Wednesday (20:00) as the second league round begins.

The opponents

After being relegated to the third tier of Israeli football at the end of the 2018/19 season, Hapoel Marmorek are currently ranked 5th in the Division South table. Marmorek began their Cup run in the 5th round, and knocked out 3rd division side SC Dimona (3-1), needed extra time to see of 4th division outfit Beitar Yavne (3-1 AET) and Happoel Bika’at Hayarden (3-1) of the 3rd division.

Marmorek are coached by David Marten who was appointed in June with a task of helping the Rehovot based club win promotion back to the second division. Matan Beit Ya’acov is Marmorek’s leading player with 6 league goals and 2 in the Cup. Dor Alberman, the young brother of former Maccabi midfielder, Gal Albverman, will miss the tie as the Marmorek defender will serve a one-match touchline ban.

The numbers

This will be Maccabi’s 85th season in the State Cup and are the record winners with 24 Cups and 13 times as finalists.

Maccabi advanced from the first round they entered 76 times and were knocked out 8 times – and have the highest success rate of 90.5%.

Maccabi’s highest Cup victory (10-0) was recorded against Maccabi Bar Kochba Jerusalem in the first round of 1937.

Hapoel Marmorek faced Maccabi in the Cup twice as on both occasions the tie took place in the first round. Maccabi recorded a 7-1 victory in the 1961/62 season over Marmorek who were in then in the 3rd division, and a 3-1 win over Marmorek who spent the 1964/65 season in the 2nd division.

Maccabi’s all-time leading goal-scorer in the State Cup is Benny Tabak with 31 goals.

          

 

Top 5: The best goals from round 8

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Thank you Dennis Gentenaar

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Maccabi Tel Aviv FC would like to thank Dennis Gentenaar for his work as goalkeeping coach over the past year after the 46-year-old Dutchman requested to leave and return back home for personal reasons.

Maccabi’s Head of Football Department Barak Itzhaki, said: “Dennis joined the Maccabi last season and immediately hit the ground running. The professionalism and strong work ethic Dennis displayed throughout, were significant to the development of our goalkeepers. Even though Dennis had asked to leave a couple of months ago and return to Holland, he agreed to our request and stayed until now for which we are grateful. It was an absolute pleasure working with Dennis during my spell as interim coach – thank you Dennis and good luck”.

Gentenaar, who joined Maccabi as GK coach in January 2021, told the club’s official website of his decision: “I would like to thank everyone at Maccabi from the management the players, the back-office staff, and fans for making me feel at home over the past year. My connection to Maccabi and Israel was strong and immediate, but the distance from my family especially in these challenging times is something which took its’ toll. I am leaving Tel Aviv as a lifelong Maccabi fan, wishing the team the success it deserves and looking forward to meet everyone in February in Eindhoven. Yalla Maccabi.”.

Following the immediate departure of Gentenaar, Shura Ubarov will fill the role of goalkeeping coach.

Watch: Mladen Krstajic unveiled as Maccabi coach

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The Mladen Krstajic tenure at Maccabi is officially now underway. The newly appointed coach was presented this afternoon(Wednesday) at a special press conference that took place at Bloomfield stadium with the owner Mitch Goldhar participating remotely.
The owner Mitch Goldhar was the one to presented Krstajic as he opened the Press Conference from Toronto by saying: “I am pleased to introduce you with Maccabi’s new  – Mladen. Before I hand it over to you for your questions to Mladen I would like to take a brief moment to touch on our process for choosing a coach. Firstly, we do not look for a coach, while we have a coach. But following our decision to make a change we started to examine candidates that either expressed an interest or we approached as potential candidates, we received many enquiries and a lot of interest. Barak (Itzhaki) and Jack (Angelides) conducted the first stage interviews and produced a short list of candidates. We then agreed on a second stage interview at which time I participated and in some cases with followed-up with further interviews. As you can expect, candidates do not materialize at once, but cut to a period of several weeks. Over the course of discussions with Mladen and his team, we felt that he had the attributes we were looking for and that he would be a good fit. As you all know he had an exemplary as a player in Serbia and in Germany and he is a proven winner. Although he is at the relatively early stages of his coaching career, he brings with him the same hunger for winning as well as the skills to work with players of all ages and to develop a squad that plays the kind of football we want to see. We all wish him the best of luck”.

Goldhar then added: “Before I conclude, I would like to once again thank Barak for stepping in as the interim coach when asked. I have nothing but praise for Barak’s loyalty and hard work, during this time and his willingness to take on a role that I was convinced he was more than capable of fulfilling, but nevertheless was new to him and which came with a great deal of pressure. Barak, thank you! And now, we all need to get back to work, because we all have a long season ahead of us”.

Coach Krstajic then gave his opening statement as he said: “Thank you very much for the kind warm words of Mitch. I am delighted to be here today and grateful to be here” Krstajic said before adding: “I am proud to be Maccabi’s new head coach and looking forward to my time here”.

On his acquaintance with the club: “Obviously I know Maccabi as it’s very famous name. Maccabi is well known even outside Israel. I am looking forward to work hard and lead Maccabi to good places in the league, and the Cup and in Europe”. The 47-year-old former Serbia national team coach, added: “I spoke with Maccabi’s former coach Vladimir Ivic who I know from our playing time at Partizan Belgrade and he told me everything about Maccabi, about Tel Aviv and Israel. I confided in him and this is an important step for me”.

On the season he expects with Maccabi: “I am not scared of what awaits me. I have a staff of three good people who will assist me, we will need time to instill our philosophy and my ideas, but this is something which should happen quickly as we don’t have time to spare. We are competing in three different competitions, we have a lot of hard work before us, the staff, the team and everyone else are prepared to work hard for the success of this club”.


     
What must Maccabi improve?
“We watched the games closely and intensively and I see a squad with a lot of potential. There are many good players and I particularly enjoyed watching the final game against Hapoel Hadera. As of today, the important thing for me is to work in a focused manner. Our first step will take place in tomorrow’s training session. I would like to get to know the players and need to get to know me quickly in order for me to pass on my philosophy, my way and how I would like to succeed. There is no time to waste and there is a lot of work ahead of us all. I trust the connection with the fans who are the best fans in the league and in Israel – I want to build on that connection in order for all of us to work together. Barak deserves a lot of credit for the level of football the team has shown under him”.

Will there be any players you would like to sign in the January transfer window?
“This is something internal between the coaching staff and Barak. We still have two weeks to have a close look at the team, who is good, who will stay on, and who would like to leave. Everything is open, I will closely look at everyone’s ability in training as there are two more weeks before the January transfer window – for decisions to be taken”.

Krstajic, who spent several years in Germany playing for Werder Bremen and Schalke 04, spoke at the press conference in German and was assisted by an interpreter a fact which led to the question about the language barrier in communicating with his players: “I understand everything in English. I speak German and Serbian, but football is an international language and suits every language. A smart player will understand every language and I fully trust that”.

On the reminder of the season, and the team’s targets, Krstajic added: “Yes, the team has the potential to challenge for the title. I know we are in fourth spot, level on points with third place but as far as I am concerned the most important match is the next one. It all begins on Sunday as we play a State Cup match against a third division side but still have a lot of respect for them. We will focus on the next match which is the most important one, and after that on the one that follows right after. Maccabi is a big club and nothing but victory in every game will be accepted. This is what I owe the team and the best fans in Israel as they expect quality and I would like to see quality in every training session and in every game. This is how we achieve success”.

Davidzada: “We are in a good positive process”

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“It was our best game e played recently” Davidzada said, “Our game plan worked from the first minute. We wanted to press them high up the pitch in order to reach as many goal scoring chances, have as much possession as we possibly can and I am delighted it worked”.

On the recent good spell he is enjoying and the fact he edged out Enric Saborit, the 30-year-old added: “It is a great story as far as I am concerned. As soon as I joined Maccabi several years ago I expected to play. I struggled at first and gradually I understood that my battle wasn’t against Saborit but was with myself. The more I arrive positive at training sessions and stronger mentally, ultimately things will work out in my favour. I understood that this is a battle with myself and reached an important conclusion in terms of my career. It gained strength from that and I am delighted that I am enjoying a good spell. Obviously things are in my hands as all I have to do is continue to prove that I deserve my place in the starting line up”.