Tal Ben Haim, the Maccabi Tel Aviv veteran central defender looked back at his side’s 2:0 win over Bnei Yehuda and spoke about the players’ desire to battle and play well:

“We are obligated to battle in every match that we play, bring motivation and the minute we do that then the results will come.”

Playing hard:
“Every player that goes onto the pitch, no matter who the coach or what his situation is plays for himself, his name and his family and at a club like Maccabi Tel Aviv you have to give 100%. I don’t think that there are players that have any other goals when they play.”

Battling:
“All of the players want to succeed, play well and battle. I understand that it may not have looked that way the last few matches. I also understand the fans, as we get up every day and go to sleep disappointed and upset at ourselves and that we have disappointed many of the supporters. Today, we looked better as to the way we battled and showed our desire and when we go onto the pitch and play the way we did, the results will come.”

Just like last match, Dor Micha began the game on the bench, but that didn’t bother the midfielder as he scored his first goal of the season and the second in 2:0 important win over Bnei Yehuda:

“It’s good feeling. We had a bad streak of games, one that I can’t remember having before in the playoffs and at an important juncture of the season. Unfortunately, we won’t reach the objectives that we wanted to but it was crucial to take the points and improve our standing for a ticket Europe and I’m happy we did just that.”

More on the battle for a European place:
“We spoke about this during the week and there’s no question that this season was a failure and it could turn into a disaster if we don’t take the European spot. We had to grab ahold of ourselves and I’m happy we did what we needed to today.”

The season to date and looking ahead:
“Just like the whole team, this has been the toughest season of my career and I take full responsibility for that. I don’t think that I’ll be the one who’ll be blamed for the failure this season. I hope that over the next five matches we will continue to improve.”

Playing at Maccabi:
“When you play at a big club like Maccabi with great expectations and if you don’t produce then it’s clear that there will be changes. We have to give it our all the rest of the way for our future and the club’s.”

Jordi Cruyff, the Yellow & Blue Head Coach summed ups his squad’s 2:0 victory over Bnei Yehuda on Matchday 31 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Ha’Al:

“There have been games over the last five games that we played better than we did today, it sounds strange to say as we had no points. Today was difficult and it was difficult to get the energy right. The lack of confidence we can’t get 2-3 passes together it gets to the team and the only thing that can help is to score a goal. Then the second one gave us a bit of relief. Important goals to regain the confidence it was also important to record a clean sheet. We have tough games coming up and we will have to be better than today if we want to compete.”

New reality:
“That’s football. We finished the regular league 2 points away from number 1 and then we found ourselves suddenly12 points behind. There’s a moment which is psychological and mental in the head, it’s difficult to accept a new situation and we out hungry players in the 11 that are hungry and have something to fight for. I hope we can make that switch and understand our reality. We have to fight as we are still not near our objective and there are still have some nice objectives to fight for but not the main target.”

Omer Atzily returning to form:
“We missed a lot penalties this year so it was good to score last week and we also suffered from set pieces and free kicks this year. It was a very beautiful goal and he’s one of those players that is hungry to recover the minutes he’s missed and it’s what the team needs at the moment.”

The Yellow & Blue defeated Bnei Yehuda 2:0 on Matchday 31 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Ha’Al thanks to a pair of second half goals via a brilliant Omer Atzily free kick and Dor Micha’s first of the campaign to take the 3-points for Jordi Cruyff’s squad. Maccabi will visit Hapoel Haifa on Sunday April 29th as they’ll look to pick up another victory at Sammy Ofer Stadium.

Head Coach Jordi Cruyff’s Starting XI featured Predrag Rajikovic in goal, Eli Dasa, Jean-Sylvain Babin, Tal Ben Haim, Ofir Davidzada, Dor Peretz, Cristian Battocchio, Omer Atzily, Avi Rikan, Aaron Schoenfeld and Vidar Kjartansson.

Available on the bench were keeper Daniel Tenenbaum, Jose Rodriguez, Nick Blackman, Gidi Kanuk, Eitan Tibi, Dor Micha, Eliran Atar.

First Half
Bnei Yehuda had the opening chance of the contest in the 2’ when Matan Hozez had a shot in the box, but Rajikovic made a kick save to quell the threat, while Peretz had Maccabi’s first opportunity in the 6’ but his 20 meter attempt went over the bar. Battocchio was injured in the 8’ and was replaced by Jose Rodriguez as Cruyff was forced to make an early substitution.

Rodriguez picked up a yellow card in the 16’ and 3 minutes later Nerijus Valksis had a free kick for the visitor’s, but Rajikovic made the save. In the 30’ Atzily’s opportunity from the right was taken care of by Zoubas while passes between Atzily and Rikan resulted in another good chance for Maccabi as Zoubas was up to the task in the 33’. Rikan’s chance two minutes later went over the bar while Schoenfeld was issued a yellow card in the 44’ as the side’s went into the break goalless.

Second Half
Rodriguez gave Rikan the ball just as the second half began, but the latter couldn’t get a proper shot off in the 46’ while two minutes later Bnei Yehuda had a number of chances in the Maccabi box but couldn’t convert. Ofir Davidzada picked up a yellow card in the 48’ and then after a dozen minutes of midfield play from both teams, Cruyff made his second substitute as he brought on Dor Micha for Aaron Schoenfeld.

Omer Atzily was awarded a free kick at the top right hand corner of the box and he perfectly placed his dead ball attempt into the top right corner of Zoubas’s goal for a 1:0 Maccabi lead in the 62’. Six minutes later Roie Gordana was issued a red card for a reckless tackle on Rodriguez leaving Bnei Yehuda with ten men for the rest of the contest.

The Yellow & Blue took full advantage of their extra man 4 minutes later as Micha tapped in his first goal of the season off a Rikan pass in the box for a 2:0 Maccabi lead. Immediately following the goal, Nick Blackman entered the match for Rodriguez who was still feeling the ill effects of the Gordana tackle and couldn’t continue. Blackman and Micha each had chances, but their 80’ and 83’ opportunities couldn’t find the back of the goal as Maccabi wrapped up their first Championship Playoff victory.

Jordi Cruyff, the Yellow & Blue Head Coach addressed the assembled media at the prematch press conference ahead of his squad’s Matchday 31 Israel Premier League Ligat Ha’Al contest:

“It’s an important game for many reasons and to stop the negative sequences and turn it around tomorrow.”

What needs to be done:
“The players see how we are standing now and they saw how we were two points off the top before the playoffs. We can see where we are now. We are very conscience of where we are in the standings and what we have to do.

Putting an end to the losing streak:
“We changed the lineup last week to try to find different ways to stop it. It’s not about tactics or the players but the run we are on. We’ve given up 10 goals over the last few games. We are conceding to much. The main problem is there and once we concede we have a difficult time reacting.”

Focusing on ourselves:
“I don’t look at others and just focus on ourselves. Change it and give 200%. We have to do what we need to and not look at others. We are in trouble for Europe but we shouldn’t think about other teams that should help us, we need to do it ourself.

Fighting for Europe:
“We need to look at what we have to fight for and there’s a lot to fight for. The club wants to play European competition. We have two players like Vidar who wants to get onto the list to experience the World Cup. The bigger the failure the bigger the changes.”

Many loaned players at Bnei Yehuda:
“They will come with super motivation. The loaned players in general have had good steps to where they are now, from Beitar Tel Aviv/Ramle and they are closing the gap. I sure some will be back at Maccabi next year.”

A game of unanswered questions:
“Football is a game with a lot of unanswered questions just like the first and second halves against Beitar. You don’t know why things go from down up or up down. I believe it’s in the head, mentality and mental strength. We have to wake up before it’s too late.”

Refocus and regroup:
“There’s no one with a holiday mentality and everyone is clearly concerned and see where we have fallen. There is professional pride. It’s not a normal situation after seeing the four games how we could have taken points and it’s in the head. We have to refocus and regroup and putting fighters and players that have a point to prove on the pitch.”

The effect of the announcement that Jordi is leaving:
“With that announcement speculation had ended. When you leave it for later and to the end of May then you have less managers to choose from. Maybe a potential coach is watching these games and it could push a player to give more and secure themselves a position with the club next season.”

Final thoughts:
“We could have won and drawn the last number of matches but we ended up losing even though we had more shots and more possession. We didn’t lose the league over the last three games. We have been irregular and lost points against teams that we should normally defeat.”

Icelandic striker Vidar Kjartansson also spoke ahead of the Bnei Yehuda match:

“The last four games have been very bad and we have I turn it around. We can say that we should have won but we didn’t. In the interview I did I said it might have effected some but we are professionals. We have been playing quite bad in the last third and making mistakes defensively.”

Status at Maccabi and looking ahead to the World Cup in Russia:
“I don’t want to leave and I’m at a good club. One day I’d like to play in a better league. But that’s something to deal with at the end of the season. I want to go to Russia but you have to play well in every game and that’s what I’m thinking now. We have a lot of good strikers and I have to play well in every game and show the coach that I can do something to be on the Iceland team and go to Russia.”

Helping the team:
“I wasn’t getting a lot of chances at the start of the season and I want to score as much as I can. But I’d rather score less and be in first and not vice versa. The most important thing right now is to help the team.”

Content with scoring 20 goals across all competitions:
“It’s quite a good number but I want a higher number at the end. My goal was to win the league.”