Gal Alberman, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s defensive midfielder summed up his side’s 1:0 victory against Hapoel Haifa and also looked ahead to the Championship Playoffs that begin next week. Number 6 discussed changes in the midfield, paying one game at a time and heading into the Playoffs:

“We had good results over the last while and we were able to reach our goal for the Regular Season which was to cut the gap as much as possible with Beer Sheva before the Playoffs. If you look at today’s match you’ll see that we had some better games and some that were not as good, but this wasn’t one of the better games and that’s the bottom line. We wanted to end evening with 56 points and that’s what we did. It wasn’t the best way to do it, but it was a good result at the end of they day.”

One match at a time:

“The Playoffs will be a much more complex challenge and over the past few seasons we didn’t play with the same ability that we may have shown during the regular season. We didn’t collect as many points as we would have liked to. We have a very small margin for error if we want to reach our goals and we will look at each match one at a time. We have to keep up the positive momentum into the playoffs as we had in the regular season.”

Changes in the midfield:

“All season long, as soon as things don’t go as well, everyone is looking at the dynamics as to why. The midfield is fine, but you don’t know what will be over the next few games. Up to now we have been playing well in the midfield even with changes in the squad due to Nosa Igiebor and Haris Medunjanin’s departures and others needed to take their places. Let’s see what the dynamics will be over the next number of games and of course work I’ll work as hard as I can to help the club.”

Sheran Yeini, the Yellow & Blue Captain spoke about the match that as and also looked ahead to the Championship Playoffs which begins next week against Bnei Sakhnin:

“Most important is that we won and put pressure on Hapoel Beer Sheva. We took the points and that’s what was most critical at this point and not how we played. There have been games where we played better and lost. We should be judged more on how many points we collect and not on the actual game play itself.”

Title fight:

“These two teams are battling neck and neck and whichever team doesn’t give up points will win the Championship. We have to come into every match with the right mentality and every tackle will be crucial from now on going forward.”

More about the match:

“We won the match and took the 3-points. Of course we want to be more dominant on the pitch and we weren’t in the second half, but we played hard and won. We were able to pick up another clean sheet and that’s also very important to us.”

Playing against Dor Peretz:

“We all wish Dor Peretz the best and we all care about him. I don’t want to talk about the own goal he scored today but I want to wish him the best of luck going forward and I hope that he will score plenty of goals going forward.”

Head Coach Lito Vidigal spoke about his Club’s 1:0 win over Hapoel Haifa on Matchday 26 and final game of the Ligat Ha’Al Regular Season as the Yellow & Blue will now turn their sights on the Championship Playoffs and a date next week with Bnei Sakhnin at home. The Angolan discussed the importance of the win, his objectives and the match that was:

“When I came here, my objective is to win all of the remaining games and we have been doing that up to now. We’ve won all of the games that we’ve played. We now have 56 points the same as Beer Sheva and that’s a good number. We are fighting for something bigger and something better in the fuutre. Most importantly we took the 3 points and the players gave all they had. Now we have to look ahead to the Championship Playoffs.”

Barak Itzhaki being upset when he was subbed off:

“You have to ask him, but we all have to think of the team first. We have to work for the team and by doing that Maccabi will be bigger than everything else. I need warriors and fighters here to battle for all of the games, My objective is to win all of the games if we do that then we will win the title.”

His team’s effort:

“The first half we played well and most importantly we took the three points. There are certainly points of the game where we needed to play better and we have to play well fro longer stretches of the game.”

The Yellow & Blue needed a Dor Peretz own goal midway through the first half along with magnificent play by keeper Predrag Rajikovic to collect the victory and 3-points to pull them into a tie with Hapoel Beer Sheva atop the table. Next week, Maccabi opens up the Championship Playoffs at home against Bnei Sakhnin on Matchday 27.

For the Photo Gallery, CLICK HERE

Prematch
Head Coach Lito Vidigal Starting Xi included Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic with a defensive quartet of Eli Dasa, Tal Ben Haim, Eitan Tibi and Captain Sheran Yeini. Gal Alberman was in the defensive midfielder’s position while Ruben Micael and Dor Micha played beside him as Oscar Scarione, Barakl Itzhaki and Vidar Kjartansson provided the attack.

Available on the bench for the Angolan boss were keeper Daniel Lifshitz, Avi Rikan, Yossi Benayoun, Marcelo dos Santos, Aaron Schoenfeld, Egor Filipenka and Sagiv Yehezkel

First Half
Maccabi Tel Aviv came out with all of their cylinders clicking as they looked for a quick goal and in the 3rd minute Alberman’s long blast missed the target while Scarione’s 7th minute free kick found the Haifa wall.

In the 22nd minute, Scarione’s ball from the left tried to find Itzhaki to no avail. However, just two minutes later, the Yellow & Blue would break through thanks to an own ago by none other than Dor Peretz. The youngster who is on loan to Hapoel Haifa from Maccabi attempted to clear the ball via a header but it found the back of the goal instead giving the hosts a 1:0 lead.

Scarione tried to double his side’s advantage, but his 18-meter screamer just missed the target in the 29th minute while Haifa almost found the equalizer two minutes later when a double pass between Eden Ben Basat and Haim Margashvili ended with the latter’s effort just going by the post. Ben Basat then headed the ball towards the Maccabi goal in the 35th minute, but Rajikovic made the save while ten minutes later the Serbian shot stopper was up to the task yet again making an amazing instinctive save off of a Peretz scorcher.

Second Half
Haifa looked to find the tying goal and did almost that in the 47th minute as Maccabi lost the ball in the middle of the pitch but Hanan Maman and Maharan Lala couldn’t find the target while ten minutes later, Head Coach Vidigal made his first substitute of the contest as Yossi Benayoun entered the fray in favor of Itzhaki.

Eli Dasa picked up a yellow card in the 63rd minute as Maccabi’s game began to pick up the pace. However, as the match hit the 72nd minute, Rajikovic made a brilliant diving stop off of a Maman chance in the box as Haifa inched closer and closer to an equalizing goal. Vidigal made his second sub of the evening as he inserted Aaron Schoenfeld for Vidar Kjartansson in the 77th minute.

Two minute later, Dasa lost track of the ball as Edilson’s shot was collected by an alert Rajikovic. In the 82nd minute, Scarione gave Micha a nice ball as number 15 sent a beauty of cross into the box that Benayoun just missed as the score remained as is.

Maccabi’s 3rd substitute saw Marcelo dos Santos come on for Dor Micha in the 89th minute and picked up a yellow card just before the referee blew the final whistle as the Yellow & Blue walked away with a 1:0 win and draw even with Hapoel Beer Sheva atop the table.

The Championship Playoff picture is now clear as the six teams have been determined just prior to the Yellow & Blue’s final regular season contest, Sunday at 20:15 against Hapoel Haifa while Hapoel Beer Sheva hosts Beitar Jerusalem on Monday.

Maccabi Haifa picked up the last playoff spot by defeating Hapoel Raanana combined with Kiryat Shemona’s loss to Kfar Saba and Bnei Sakhnin ended up in 5th place becoming Maccabi Tel Aviv’s first playoff foe on Matchday 27.

Here is the Championship Playoff Schedule (Time & Date TBD):

Matchday 27, 18.03: Maccabi Tel Aviv – Bnei Sakhnin

Matchday 28, 01.04: Hapoel Beer Sheva – Maccabi Tel Aviv

Matchday 29, 08.04: Maccabi Tel Aviv – Maccabi Haifa

Matchday 30, 15.04: Maccabi Tel Aviv – Maccabi Petah Tikva

Matchday 31, 22.04: Beitar Jerusalem – Maccabi Tel Aviv

Matchday 32, 25/26.04: Bnei Sakhnin – Maccabi Tel Aviv

Matchday 33, 29.04: Maccabi Tel Aviv – Hapoel Beer Sheva

Matchday 34, 06.05: Maccabi Haifa – Maccabi Tel Aviv

Matchday 35, 13.05: Maccabi Petah Tikva – Maccabi Tel Aviv

Matchday 36, 20.05: Maccabi Tel Aviv – Beitar Jerusalem

Maccabi Tel Aviv faces Hapoel Haifa on Sunday night, 20:15 at the Netanya Stadium. Ruben Micael, who joined the squad at the end of the winter transfer period has been playing extremely well and will look to keep up his fine showing in the last match of the regular season.

“I don’t like to talk about the team we are playing against,” Micael said prior to the match versus Hapoel Haifa. “I think what’s most important is what we do on the pitch. We work very well together and we are strong as a team. In my opinion, we have to set the tone with our quality and how we play.”

Do you have any feelings as we approach the Championship Playoffs and “Money Time” of the season:

“I don’t think I have any extra special feelings. If you work hard and train seriously every single day and there is a certain routine in the practice sessions while preparing intently for each match whether it’s the regular season or the playoffs, then you’ll always try to be at your best.”

On his recent form:

“I am very comfortable at Maccabi. For me, it’s important as to how we play as a team. I don’t play alone but with ten other teammates on the pitch. Of course, I’m happy to help the club achieve good results.”

About the praise received up to now:

“I’m happy that I’ve made a positive impression but I don’t like to talk about what I’ve done. I’d prefer to do the talking on the pitch and whoever sees me can decide whether I deserve the praise and compliments or not.”