Head Coach Shota Arveladze addressed the media at the prematch press conference prior to Maccabi’s Matchday 14 contest against Hapoel Kfar Saba. The Georgian boss discussed the upcoming transfer window, Dor Peretz and the early hour of Saturday’s match:

“We have been training at about 17:00 so it won’t be a big change. It’s the earliest we played and we have been playing at all different times this season. The main thing is that it’s an important game.”

Playing many games:

“We had a hard time playing 32 games in a short period of time. Now we have a bit more time to think and more time to prepare better sessions and address the problems. For the players, it’s still a physical and mental competition. The Cup games will start in January and we will have more games once again after a few weeks of just one match a week.”

Recent performance:

“We have had some good runs and we can play against anyone in Europe. We played well and could stand up against anyone. But then we had some problems and we couldn’t play well against anyone. We had some bad luck at the end of the Europa League campaign and we could have had an extra point to make it to the Round of 32 but now we are back to the league. I wasn’t happy with the second half, but we also had a tough game against the Irish club just three days earlier. We knew we had to win but our performance was not enough.”

Still in the championship race:

“It’s only December 15th. We need to unite and use our spirit to do so. It’s not an individual game and we have to come together. We need everyone’s quality to unite and to just do it.”

Clubs frightened to play Maccabi:

“Everyone still comes to play with ten men behind the ball.”

January changes:

“It’s a choice. If someone wants to leave it means that they didn’t connect with the club and doesn’t see his future with the team. They may have gotten chances but they just didn’t have the best opportunities. If they go, I just wish them luck and I hope that the don’t make the same mistakes as they made here.”

About Dor Peretz:

“He was the best player in the first two months but didn’t play his best position. He played defensive back and I was so happy with his performance. Occasionally it happens with the younger guys, they have to come back after playing very hard. We may not agree on everything after talking with him. He needs to come back again and I believe that he has a very good future. I have to give credit to his parents as he was raised so well, but this is football. He has played right back, center back but he prefers playing the number 6 position which he has barely played this season. I hope to see him back soon.”

Do you have the green light to make changes in January:

“It’s green. There will be some changes and we have spoken about it. No coach wants to have 35 players and we won’t have that many here. We will have an amount of players that will be good enough for each player to fight for their position.”

History in Short

Bonni Ginsburg was born December 1964 in Tel Aviv and at the age of 8 he began his career in the Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Department. Everyone saw the potential in the young and athletic keeper and at the age of 16 he became the youngest shot stopper to play in the first division which resulted in a 1:0 win over Hapoel Ramat Gan.

In 1984/85 he was loaned to Maccabi Petach Tikva which finished the season in 2nd place and his fine performance over the campaign led him back to Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Ginzburg’s only title while wearing the Yellow & Blue came in 1987 when he helped the team to the State Cup. He also was a standout with the Israel National Team at the qualification tournament for the 1988 Seoul Olympics. One of Ginzburg’s career highlights happened in the two legged tie with Colombia as Israel looked to qualify for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. After impressing many with his play, Ginzburg became the first Israeli keeper to head to Europe, featuring for Scotland’s Glasgow Rangers over the course of two seasons.

Ginzburg made 144 appearances for Maccabi Tel Aviv, Beitar Jerusalem, Maccabi Haifa, Bnei Yehuda, Ironi Ashdod, Maccabi Yavne, Beitar Tel Aviv, Maccabi Petach Tikva, Hapoel Ashkelon and Hapoel Kfar Saba

Top Moment

June 9, 1987. Ramat Gan Stadium: Maccabi Tel Aviv & Maccabi Haifa are playing for the right to receive the State Cup from the President and Ginzburg had the privilege to take part in one of the most memorable finals ever played. Ginzburg may have had to take the ball out of the goal three times, but he had the upper hand when the contest went to penalties. WATCH:

Titles & Awards with Maccabi Tel Aviv:

State Cup: 1986/87
Israel National Team appearances: 68

The second round of Ligat Ha’Al matches begins this coming Saturday when Maccabi Tel Aviv visits Hapoel Kfar Saba at Levita Stadium (16:00, 17/12). Maccabi Tel Aviv fans will be seated in Section 4 with tickets going on sale today for Season Tickets Holders who will have priority to purchase them until 13/12 at 12:00.

Should tickets remain, they will then be released for sale to the general public. Tickets are available through the Leaan Ticket Agency at their Ticket Office: 101 Dizengoff Street, via the Leaan Website and telephone *8780.

Please note
– In accordance with the police and the home Club, there will not be ticket sales or collection of tickets at the Stadium on Matchday. Tickets may be collected at the Leaan Ticket Office until Friday December 16th.
– Each Season Ticket Holder may purchase up to 2 tickets.

Ticket Prices
Telephone/Internet – 60 NIS
Leaan Ticket Office – 55 NIS

Ticket Collection at the Leaan Ticket Office

Tickets may be collected at the Leaan Ticket Office located at 101 Dizengoff Street between Sunday-Thursday 09:00-19:00, Friday 09:00-12:00.

The Club will design, produce and manufacture its own Sportswear line to best meet the needs of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s players and fans. Following on from the redevelopment of the Club’s Official Website, launch of the Official App, opening of three Official Stores and the Online Shop, the Club is continuing with the trend of listening, learning and meeting the needs of its fans and to create a stronger bond with its supporters.

In order to produce first class high level products, specialists and consultants from Israel and abroad who have worked with leading sports brands will assist the Club. The product line will have unique designs and be manufactured using the latest technology in order to create a truly innovative line of Sportswear for Maccabi Tel Aviv FC, its players and fans.

Owner  Mitch Goldhar  said: “The Israeli league like other similar size markets are not being offered the range of kit as in other European countries by the large brand manufacturers. Producing our own kit will give us the flexibility we need. The Maccabi Tel Aviv FC Brand will offer a first class quality that our fans deserve.“

Sports Director Jordi Cruyff added: “This move demonstrates more than ever the collaboration of all parties involved to supply garments to fit the players’ needs. This is an innovative process where we all join forces to award both players and fans with the best ever product.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv FC will continue working with ADIDAS until the end of the 2016/17 season which concludes the current contract, and would like to thank them for their cooperation over the course of the past three years.

When everything looked down and out with Maccabi about to drop points, the Captain, Gal Alberman came to the rescue scoring off of a Dor Micha pass putting the ball with all of his heart and all of his might into the Haifa goal leading to the dramatic victory.

Alberman was honest at the end of the contest as he discussed his goal: “I don’t score a lot but when the ball does go in, it’s with all of my heart. I’m happy that I was able to help the club out of this situation and that’s why I’m here.”

The Club’s form of late:

“We aren’t playing at the level that we are expected to play. There are always periods of time like this but we still have to find a way to play well, however, we haven’t been playing good enough recently. This is the type of game that we should be in control of for the full 90 minutes and make sure that we know how to keep the lead. It’s always fun to fix things up after a win, but we needed to play better.”

The championship race:

“We’re not raising up our hands. Our play and recent results ended up widening the gap but we won’t raise our hands. There are still plenty of points. What’s important right now is that we improve our play because that is what will help us earn those points.”

It wasn’t easy but at the end of 90 minutes Maccabi Tel Aviv completed the first round of Ligat Ha’Al matches with a victory while picking up three important points. Shota Arveladze didn’t hide his disappointment after his side gave up a two goal lead in the second half:

“After the first half I wanted to see us continue to work hard and pressing just like the Maccabi I know, but instead I saw the exact opposite. The second half made me sad, defensively, confidence, everything.

Battling:

“I’m the coach and I have to find a solution, do I sound or look like someone who will give up. I’ll never give up. I’m sure that we can look better, better than how we looked even in the first half.”

Offensive effort:

“We scored four goals, that’s good and I hope that will give our attack some confidence. We have some time now after just having a match three days ago. As angry as I am, I also understand that the players are tired. I’m happy with how winger Ben Chaim played, he was fantastic and it shows you how important he is for us.”

January transfers:

“We will do what we need to do.”

The Yellow & Blue went up 2:0 in the first half thanks to Dor Micha and an own goal, however, Haifa drew even in half number two via Maaran Laala and Hanan Maman. But substitute Gal Alberman gave Maccabi the lead while Vidar Kjartansson added an insurance goal to help Shota Arveladze’s side end the first round of matches with a win.

Prematch
Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Shota Arveladze made some cosmetic changes to the Starting XI that featured against Dundalk as Sagiv Yehezkel and Avi Rikan were inserted into the lineup in favor of Haris Medunjanin and Omri Ben Harush who began the match on the bench. Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic was in goal with Eli Dasa, Tal Ben Haim and Eitan Tibi joining Rikan. Eyal Golasa, Nosa Igiebor and acting Captain Dor Micha were in the midfield while winger Tal Ben Chaim and Vidar Kjartansson were up front with Yehezkel.

On the bench for the Georgian boss were keeper Daniel Tenenbaum, Yossi Benayoun, Gal Alberman, Eden Ben Basat and Barak Itzhaki along with the aforementioned Medunjanin and Ben Harush.

First Half
Icelander Vidar Kjartansson had the contest’s first chance in the 11th minute as his 20 meter effort was collected by the Haifa keeper Velthuizen, while 8 minutes later Ben Chaim’s cross was also blocked and sent out to safety.

In the 21st minute, Rikan picked up a yellow card and Yehezkel collected one as well four minutes later. Maccabi looked to have scored via Ben Chaim in the 30th minute but referee Ziv Adler mistakingly called it offside. However, four minutes later the Yellow & Blue made sure that the goal would count as Micha beat Velthuizen putting the ball into the corner of his goal for a 1:0 lead.

Maccabi would continue to press and make it 2:0 in the 39th minute as Micha gave Kjartansson the ball whose cross would result in an own goal via Ofek Fishler giving the visitors a two goal advantage going into the break.

Second Half
Haifa came out strong and scored in the 51st minute as Maaran Laala beat Rajikovic thanks to Haim Magrashivili’s hard work in the box. Dasa tried to get the ball past the Dutch keeper but Velthuizen was in the right place to make the save in the 55th minute following which Coach Arveladze made his first substitution inserting Medunjanin in favor of Yehezkel.

Micha’s long effort couldn’t find the goal in the 58th minute while Laala almost drew the hosts even a minute later but he was stopped in his tracks by Ben Haim. Igiebor was then booked in the 65th minute while two minutes later Alberman replaced number 40. However, the substitution would not help stop Hanan Maman from drawing Haifa even in the 69th minute, 2:2.

Rajikovic had to come up big in the 73rd minute robbing Maman while Itzhaki was inserted for Rikan five minutes later as Maccabi looked to find some offense to find the go ahead goal. And what would you know, they would do exactly that one minute later.

The Captain, Gal Alberman took a Micha pass and sent the ball past a helpless Velthuizen to give the Yellow & Blue a 3:2 lead. Ben Chaim tried to add another goal via a solo effort but his chance just went by the post as Maccabi continued to look for an insurance goal.

Well if Ben Chaim couldn’t score he could help set up Kjartansson as the striker beat Velthuizen to wrap up a Maccabi 4:2 win. The Yellow & Blue will now get ready to face Hapoel Kfar Saba on Matchday 14 at Levita Stadium this coming Saturday at 16:00.

Stadium: Sammy Ofer (30,870)

Coach: Nir Klinger

The former player who was just until recently the Sport Director of Maccabi Shearayim has just come on board along with Dani Golan to join the professional staff of Hapoel Haifa. Eli Cohen was dismissed as boss after collecting 13 points in 12 matches along with scoring 15 goals, the most amongst the club’s between places 7-14, however his side also allowed 20 goals the second most in the league after Ashkelon.

Player of interest

Nir Klinger has plenty of quality players in his squad, but the one who could be considered the barometer of the club is Hanan Maman. The 27-year old midfielder came back to the team he had grown up with and helped stave off relegation. So far this campaign, Maman has three goals and three assists to go along with four goals in Toto Cup action.

So far this season

Four wins, a draw and seven losses. As the first round of Ligat Ha’Al matches nears the end, the Carmel Reds see that they are just two points away from the red line and the dreaded relegation zone. Haifa can look back at some of their season’s high points which includes a 4:0 demolition of Beitar Jerusalem and a quality goalless draw against their city rivals, Maccabi Haifa. The Yellow & Blue will have to pay close attention to Hapoel as they can certainly cause damage to sides throughout the league.