Matchday 30 ended with Maccabi Tel Aviv taking one huge step towards the league title as they moved into first place. However, Head Coach Peter Bosz knows that the team has a tough match at Maccabi Haifa this coming Sunday and also looked ahead to a busy week at Sammy Ofer Stadium with Semi Final Cup action as well against Bnei Sakhnin:

Matchday 31 of the WINNER League is upon us as Maccabi Tel Aviv visits Maccabi Haifa at Sammy Ofer Stadium. Prior to the match Tal Ben Chaim discussed the club’s last game against Beitar Jerusalem that catapulted them into first place: “It was a very emotional victory but that was finished a half an hour after the game itself as we began to focus on Maccabi Haifa and the difficult week ahead of us. The State Cup is one of our goals as well and we will come prepared for that challenge.”

Getting lucky at Bloomfield:

“The good are lucky and the lucky are good. The match against Beitar could’ve ended in the 30th minute as we were playing very well. At the end of the day I’m happy we won but most importantly we played really well.”

The change in the playing style:

The new coach came in, slowly but surely our game became more offensive. All of the Maccabi fans and those who watch football in general prefer a more attacking style. It’s not something you can learn in a day. We work on this each and every week and it’s not easy, but the training sessions are good and his demands are helping us play better.”

The battle with Hapoel Beer Sheva:

“We aren’t concerning ourselves with Beer Sheva. They are an excellent team and have been playing like a champion. The fight has been good the whole season and now we are holding the upper hand. They’ll probably do what they need to do on Saturday and we will have to do what we need to on Sunday.”

On his personal goals:

“I’m trying to reach the goals that we’ve set for ourselves which is to win the championship and State Cup. We did some amazing things last year as a team and we want to keep it up. After we win the double you can ask me about my personal goals.”

I arrived at Bloomfield very early on Monday. Excitement, expectation and pressure had been gripping me since Saturday night as I anticipated the big match against Beitar Jerusalem. The smell around Bloomfield reminded me of the smell I had experienced at the fabled stadium over the past few years: the match against Basel and the 4:0 Derby victory. Something big was about to happen. It wasn’t just the team who raised their level right now for the playoffs, it was also the fans, the Maccabists who wouldn’t dare use the words apathy or tired at these crucial moments.

It’s hard to explain how such an amazing effort by the club ended with a last minute match winning goal. It may be that this contest really explains the whole shocking season that we are experiencing. The game on Monday, like every match this year is just proof that we’ll have to fight right up until the end of the campaign. It’s going to be hard, thrilling and frustrating. “Zahavi didn’t show up” someone two rows in front of me yelled out during the first half. Zahavi? He can’t stop missing. The bar, post and out. “It’s all because of that guy Elmaliah” anther disappointed fan screamed out. And BOOM! 2:1. To tie a record is great, but it’s not enough for a player that was born to break them. There’s still first place to conquer.

2:2 and you just grab your head. Try to explain all of those misses right. Imagine thinking about all of those missed opportunities the whole week. The minutes go by and you feel the pressure increasing bit by bit especially in your throat. It’s now hard to sing along with the fans as the nerves are really getting to you. As the time continues to go by, your legs start to shake and it’s not because of winter returning. The ball refuses to find the back of the goal and your head starts spinning even more. You think back to those brutal misses by Nosa and Radonjic in Kiryat Shemona, Peretz’s Derby header, the chances you had to rescue a point against Beer Sheva and Claudemir’s save off of the line at Teddy. Your head hurts even harder as your mind wanders about thinking that this just may not be our year.

Suddenly after a few shocking minutes, Bloomfield wakes up again. “There’s no way we’re not winning today”. “It’s ours”, yell some fans not totally believing that it’s possible. But you bring it all back and remember that your team is Maccabi. The club that are lions. “Never give up” begins to seep into the crowd. And the memories keep flooding back. You think back to when you jumped after Zahavi scored against Maccabi Haifa in last year’s playoffs, you think back to when you won the Derby with only ten players, Lugassi’s screamer and Shukanov’s cheeky finish. Then you understand that it’s going to happen. It has to happen. Who are you to doubt it?

90th minute. Throw in, Itzahki pounces on a loose ball and it goes in! We can’t see who scored but it doesn’t really matter. You already know who’s responsible. After all he always does it and he’s always there. Eran Zahavi of course. A goal that is a total reflection of the player. You didn’t think he would just break the record, right? It had to be the match winner and it had to happen at the last possible moment. It had to come after five incredible chances to score, because this is truly who Eran Zahavi really is. Ages before the bicycle kick goals and way before the incredible volley. This is a goal scored with a huge amount of effort, persistence and constant movement. The goal comes when no one is moving, but he continues to believe. His team rallies him as do the fans cheering him on. It’s a goal that only Eran Zahavi could score. It’s a goal that only Eran Zahavi could get to and put home. And how symbolic is it that the goal is also a record breaker that involves his teammates. You say to yourself how predictable it is, but you’re amazed each and every time.

I’m unable to watch the last two minutes. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m in a stupor or because my glasses went flying four rows down in front of me. (And thanks to the fans that found them!) the final whistle blows and Bloomfield explodes. You’re in ecstasy and if you’re not part of this you’ll never really truly understand. But late into the night you do understand and realize what you’ve witnessed, you’re up by one point and you’re in a war right until the last dying seconds.

“Sammy Ofer Week” is about to begin for Maccabi Tel Aviv fans as they will play twice next week in the Haifa facility, the first against Maccabi Haifa and then in the State Cup Semifinals against Bnei Sakhnin. The Yellow-and-Blue will play Maccabi Haifa on Sunday April 17th at 20:55 and Maccabi supporters will be seated in Sections J-K (open seating)

Ticket sales for season ticket holders only will begin today April 13th for the Matchday 31 clash against Maccabi Haifa via the Leaan Website. If tickets remain, sales will continue at the Leaan Ticket Office and via telephone on Thursday April 14th. Season ticket holders will have until Thursday April 14th at 16:00 to purchase tickets and should tickets remain at that point, sales will be open to the general public via the Leaan ticket office, telephone by dialing *8780 and the Leaan website.

Tickets sales are open to valid 2015/16 season ticket holders and will need to present proper identification in order to pick up the tickets.
Each season ticket may purchase up to 2 tickets.

We recommend picking up the tickets in advance at the Leaan Ticket Office and can be done by 12:00 on the day of the match.

Any fan with a discounted ticket MUST come to the match with proper identification or else they will not be allowed into the stadium and will not be able to purchase a full priced ticket.

Israel Railways provides a comfortable travel option for fans. Make sure check the updated the train times to allow for an easy trip and avoid traffic.

IMPORTANT
Israel Railways will have extra trains following the match. The special line will stop at the Carmel Beach stop and the Tel Aviv Savidor-Mercaz. The train will stop at the following stations: Binyamina, Hadera, Netanya, Beit Yehoshua, Herzliya, Tel Aviv Savidor-Mercaz.

The trains will operate on a “Fill & Go” basis

Make sure to buy your train tickets in advance in order to avoid lines and also get a 20% Special Matchday discount.

Ticket prices

Telephone/Internet

Male Adult – 104₪
Youth/Student/Soldier/Woman – 54.50₪

Leaan Ticket Office 101 Dizengoff Street, Tel Aviv

Male Adult – 99₪
Youth/Student/Soldier/Woman – 49.50₪

Ticket Collection at the Leaan Ticket Office

Tickets may be collected at the Leaan Ticket Office 101 Dizengoff Street, Tel Aviv Sunday-Thursday 09:00-19:00, Friday 09:00-13:30

Ticket Collection at the Stadium on Matchday beginning 3 hours prior to kickoff

Dor Micha scored the first goal of the match and was active throughout the contest helping the Yellow-and-Blue finally defeat Beitar Jerusalem, a team that they had yet to beat during the 2015/16 campaign. Number 15 also assisted on Captain Eran Zahavi’s goal tying him with Nisim Elmaliah for the single season goal scoring record which he would break later on in the match:

“We had so many chances and we had such a good game it would have been a pity not to win, we wanted to get back to first place after such a long time. Sometimes things just don’t go the way you want but thank goodness we have Eran Zahavi who came through at exactly the right time.”

The match itself:

“Today, unlike the other two matches against Beitar, we played much better than they did. It could’ve ended with 4 or 5 goals for us, but we were a bit unlucky. I’m happy that it ended well.”

On the confidence shown by Coach Peter Bosz:

“I’m happy to get credit from Peter and it’s great to hear nice things. I want to give back the best I can for his confidence in me and I always play at 100%. Some coaches like certain players better than others and I’m happy that I did play under the last coach and that I finished on a good note. But I’m happy that a new coach came in that really appreciates me and understands what I can gove back to the club.”

About Eran Zahavi:

“The last few weeks I haven’t had any luck assisting on his goals, but I’m happy that today I was able to help him out. I don’t want to take any credit as he always knows when and how to come up big.”

Money time of the campaign:

“Over the past few years this team has been able to give even more during money time. Each season when we hit playoff time we’ve raised the level of our game and you can see that we’ve done it once again this year. But we have to keep it going right until the end.”

On passing the ball to Zahavi:

“Finding Eran is much easier because he never stops running and trying to get into position to score. He goes into dangerous areas and areas where he knows exactly how to get the ball. When you have a player like that on your side it’s much easier to get him the ball.”

Changing coaches midseason:

“When you change a coach mid season it’s never easy to adapt to an agenda and a style. However, we’ve been able to really do what he wants us to over the last month and a half and we’ve been playing much better football.”

Moving into first place:

“We deserve to be where we are today and we are really playing well right now, although nothing is over just yet and there are six more matches. After the Derby draw we got together and we spoke about the fact that we will have to win the rest of our matches in order to win the championship as we were five points behind first place then. We are concentrating on our own play and other than the draw in Beer Sheva we’ve been hitting our goals.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Dutch boss, Peter Bosz took a look back at his side’s 3:2 win over Beitar Jerusalem on Matchday 30 of the WINNER League’s Championship Playoffs. The victory moved his team into first place, a position that he has not been in since taking over the club. He spoke about Eran Zahavi, the match and the many opportunities his side has over the course of 90 minutes:

“We created so many chances and we had a great game. The three points are important and I’m so happy for the guys as they worked so hard tonight and deserved the win.”

About Eran Zahavi:

“The goals speak for themselves. He was unlucky in the first half and he could’ve scored 3-4 more times but he had the quality and he ultimately did the job.”

Where Zahavi would be should he have been in Holland:

“In Holland, Zahavi would be on the National team and he may be on a big team in Europe. I’m not sure how he would’ve developed though I do know he’s a great goal scorer. He not only scored a brace this evening but he created a number of chances as well and that’s something only the greats can do.”

On moving into first place:

“This first place isn’t that important. It’s only after the 36th Matchday that it’s important. It certainly gives up confidence to be in first though, but there’s still a long way to go.”

Beitar scoring two goals:

“They had two chances all game and they scored two times. It’s very efficient and it’s quality, but everyone believes that we deserved to win with the amount of chances we had.”

What hasn’t been said about Eran Zahavi? In arguably one of the greatest seasons for any Captain and leader, Number 7 has done it yet again. Scoring a brace against Beitar Jerusalem which included the match winner in a 3:2 win not only helped Maccabi move into first place but also allowed him to shatter the Israel League single season goal scoring record:

 

“It was one of the best games for us all year long and we had so many chances. It was 2:2 and we were under pressure but the ball went in for the win. This was a very important victory. We’re back in first place and that’s where we belong.”

There are 6 matches left in the season:

“It won’t mean anything if we don’t stay in first place. Every game is like the state cup final and we have 6 games left. We have to win all of them. The whole stadium was under pressure tonight and I’m happy we were able to find the winner and take three points.”

On breaking the single season goal scoring record:

“I know what the papers say and write about me and about this record, but I want to thank my family and my teammates that helped me reach this achievement. I chased and chased and chased and broke the record. I’ve got to thank the club, my teammates and my family for this amazing milestone.”

Staying in first place and the battle with Hapoel Beer Sheva:

“They play in Saturday and we play on Sunday but there are no games that are easy. After Saturday we may find ourselves back in second place. This is why this is now money time. We will have to keep up with the pressure and make sure we finish in first at the end of the year.”