Tal Ben Haim, the Yellow & Blue central defender looked ahead to Sunday night’s Israel Premier League Ligat Ha’Al Match against Hapoel Ashkelon at the Netanya Stadium, 20:30:

“It’s a match that’s totally different than any else and Yuval Naim will prepare them very well as they are very hard to score against. Last game when we took our foot off the gas, Ashkelon scored 2 goals in 3 minutes and we lost points. If we take our foot off the gas, we will be in trouble and we won’t do that. We don’t want to draw again 2:2 or like last season 0:0 at Netanya.”

Looking at the other top of the table club’s:
“Beitar and Hapoel Haifa are having very good seasons, but we aren’t looking at them or Hapoel Beer Sheva. We are focusing on ourselves and looking to see how we can play better.”

About the fact that he’s not playing much:
“I’m a truthful person as you know and not playing is difficult. But we have a coach who makes the decisions and we all have to respect that.”

Being a Maccabist:
“I grew up at Maccabi and began here at the age of 6. There were always teams that show interest but I began at Maccabi and I want to end my career at Maccabi. I don’t see myself moving to another club and I don’t want to hurt the fans. I have to support my teammates, train well and be ready for when I’m needed. There are times when I hadn’t played and then I was called upon and I was playing every week.”

Winning titles at Maccabi:
“My goal is to help Maccabi Tel Aviv win titles and that’s why I returned to Israel and to the club. I’m committed to doing that.”

The desire to win:
“We are a hungry team and we didn’t see that at the beginning of the season due to injuries and many games that we played. But our main goal is to bring back the championship to Tel Aviv.”

Jordi Cruyff, the Yellow & Blue Head Coach spoke ahead of the club’s contest versus Hapoel Ashkelon on Matchday 19 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Ha’ and looked back to the last time the two side’s met at Sela Stadium:

“We for sure remember, it was a very unpleasant loss of points. For 60 minutes we controlled the game and then tiredness set in. Ashkelon scored 2 goals in 3 minutes and we missed a 90’ penalty. They don’t concede a lot goals and they are difficult to beat. They are always very well organized and have a very good coach. It’s one of the toughest matches.”

The loss of Jean-Sylvain Babin and Nick Blackman due to yellow cards for the match and the competition to get into the lineup:
“The team has been looking better and we all know how football works. There are chances and the players always have the opportunity to show their worth. There are players who have had good careers and have shown what they can do. They are the two players who have played the most, Blackman and Babin. There is no A or B team and there will be times when they will play more and play less.”

Having played Yuval Shpungin over Tal Ben Haim last week:
“Tal’s position is a central position. Shpungin played 70% of the game on the right back against Rukavytsya. That’s not Tal’s position.”

The transfer window:
“That’s just how it works. You want to have your homework down early in the window. We have 6 foreigners and until there is no movement there who be any moves.”

Changes in the lineup:
“I don’t feel that we have main guys, the whole team is equal. Many of those main guys as you call them are not in the top ten in minutes and it’s another game that’s important for us. Every time we lift our nose up, we get slapped in the face. I believe that Ashkelon is one of the most difficult games we can have. When people start to talk too much that’s not good and we don’t like that.”

Status of Eli Dasa:
“Eli wasn’t feeling 100% and played a lot in a short period of time after not playing for a very long time. We can play with 4 defenders or 3 defenders depending on the situation.”

Tough games:
“We played Ashkelon away with 4 and lost points and we did so against Raanana which was one of our worst games and ended the game with 5 out of necessity. Most games are tough for all of the teams and that’s why it’s close at the top of the table.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv management and players took part in the dedication of a brand new stadium in the city of Or Yehuda. Club CEO Ben Mansford, COO Sharon Tammam together with keeper Predrag Rajikovic, Ofir Davidzada, Eitan Tibi, Cristian Battocchio, Omer Atzily, Vidar Kjartansson and Sheran Yeini were all present to meet and greet the many children who attended the event draped in Yellow & Blue.

Ben Mansford spoke about the club’s recent form: “In football it’s important you don’t get too low even when we had that disappointing performance against Beer Sheva and lately we don’t want to get to high. If you saw Jordi’s comments after the game yesterday, I don’t think you need to say much more, he summed it up. We had some lows this year, took some whacks and criticism, but we stuck together. That’s what we did and it’s important that we continue to stick together. Jordi coined that football phrase, game by game, session by session and week by week and let’s see where we are by late May.”

Favorites going forward?
“If somebody made us favorites, that’s very kind but that’s up to them. The only thing that concerns me is Jordi, Carlos, Dani and the boys get into a huddle at Kiryat Shalom everyday and they train hard and play hard. The league table very rarely lies at the end of the season.”

Additions and subtractions in the January transfer window:
“At the moment I quite like what we got and we have always felt that this was a good squad. We aren’t going to speculate on ins and outs. We always want to be better and look for better as well as improve and we always want to be the best, but ultimately a huge respect to the boys. There was a huge number of changes in the summer and you know better than I as to how many players left and how many came in. But you saw yesterday the togetherness when it was 2:1 and Haifa got the goal against the run of play. We didn’t sit deep and we pushed on and went for the third. We created enough chances that we could have won by a couple.”

More on the transfer window:
Let’s be positive and very respectful to the squad that has stuck together and got themselves to a fighting chance to having a very good season. We’ve won the only silverware so far this year. We will let you know the ins and outs, but I don’t think that January is a good window to do business that effects the long term success of the club. We will do what we need to do if the right things comes up. But again huge respect to the players and staff that are here.”

Contract status of Eli Dasa and Avi Rikan:
“Eli Dasa is here until the end of the season with an option to keep him. Eli knows we will keep him here as long as we can and we have 18 months left. Avi Rikan is up at the end of the season and that’s a statement of fact. Anything about Avi Rikan and Maccabi will be on the Official Website first.”

Chances to improve the squad:
“We always want to improve and strengthen the squad. Right now we have a young, hungry squad and it’s only Barak and Tal who are on the other side of 30 by some considerable margin. If we can change one or two to give us an extra push it’s got to be the right one or two. This is a fantastic group of players. Jordi and the coaching staff are very capable, but our success will ultimately be driven by the players and how they perform.”

Status of Tino Susic:
“I don’t think that it’s fair to assume and I don’t want to talk about any contractual status publicly. I’m sure Tino is disappointed as to how it’s gone and we will talk to Tino and his advisers and I’ll leave it to Jordi to have those football talks. If it’s right for Tino and right for Maccabi, then we would be bound to look at it.”

Or Yehuda:
“It’s really important that we have a President and Sports Minister that are very passionate. Israel needs to improve and it’s been awhile since they have qualified for a major competition and one of the things that the country needs is facilities. When Liat, the Mayor of Or Yehuda said that there is this fantastic new facility and would we help come and launch it and create some publicity for a quality new facility in this very local municipality, we were very keen to come and support it.”

Future stadium plans:
“I know how much the fans value Bloomfield and I know some of the problems that we have in Netanya, some of which we’re from before my time. As a club we are dutifully bound to investigate all of the opportunities that make long term financial viability and commercial success for us. When there is news, we will of course let the fans know first.”