Category: News

Altman: “This whole experience is like a dream”

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The Maccabi “Shachar” Under-21 team arrived at midnight last evening in Porto, Portugal and today began preparations for their Matchday Three Champions League Youth League encounter with their counterpart from Porto.

Ziv Arie’s charges will have their final training session at the Porto practice facility where they will also play their game tomorrow at 15:00 Israel Time, 13:00 Portugal time.

Even before landing the coach began preparations by giving the players tactical instructions. When the club landed Tomer Altman talked about where the players are and how this competition will impact his teammates careers as well as the first team right before they face Porto:

“You don’t have to mince words when you discuss a team like Porto as its one of the best clubs in Europe and we are coming into this match the best that we can to play attractive football. This whole experience is like a dream.”

Altman also spoke about Maccabi “Shachar” this season:

“I along with my teammates feel like we are similar to the first team. From a professional standpoint we have two matches a week that also includes flying. This is something from the movies. I’m sure that the Champions League Youth League will help all of the players in the future. There are players that will never have the opportunity to play at this level and even if they do this competition will help them.”

“To compete at this level we must be very sharp”

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The Yellow-and-Blue will take on FC Porto at 21:45 Israel time tomorrow October 20th as they will look to pick up their first points of the Champions League Group Stages. Maccabi arrived at the Dragao Stadium in the evening for their last training session prior to the match but just before coach Slavisa Jokanovic and defender Carlos Garcia represented Maccabi at the press conference. Jokanovic opened with the following:

מסיבת עיתונאים לקראת פורטו

“I’m happy to be here. This is new for both me and the players. I’d prefer to be in this stadium rather than watching Porto taking on Basel. We’re still learning. Chelsea and Dynamo defeated us but I expect that we will play better tomorrow than we have in the pervious matches. My goal is to win the game and that’s what we want to do tomorrow. We are playing a very difficult team and we respect them but firstly we have to respect ourselves and our supporters. We came here to fight, to implement our game plan and to try and win the match.

Maccabi has given up early goals in the other matches:

“To compete at this level we must be very sharp. We won’t have many opportunities to score and we will have to make sure we don’t give up an early goal. The solution to this problem is to have the mentality to work and fight on the pitch as a team. I expect that we will play better than the previous games.”AQ7A9667

On tomorrow’s opponent:

“Porto is one of the best European clubs. They are five time Champions of Europe and had a wonderful year under coach Julen Lopetgui and this year they opened well again. Our team is in the best shape. Portuguese football always does a good job in European competition and it’s a great chance to test ourselves out against Porto and against Portuguese football. Like I said we are going to face one of the best club’s in the country. They have many good players that will either be on the pitch or on the bench and all can control the game very well. It’s. It a question about a player here or there.

About his personal relationship with the Porto coach:

I remember Julen Lopetgui when I was with Deportivo de la Coruna. He was a veteran ‘keeper on Spanish league teams and is now a wonderful clash who is leading Porto. I hope we will be a let o stop him tomorrow.”

Carlos Garcia was asked about Maccabi and the history of the Yellow-and-Blue:

“Maccabi is the biggest club in Israel and its history is also. We are also now writing AQ7A9745history with the team. Israeli football improves from year to year. We of course respect Porto but we will try to use one of secret weapons in order to win the game. In the domestic league we have foreign players from South America, Europe and Africa. But in Europe we are facing much bigger teams than us.”

On his personal abilities:

“I feel good and I will try to help the club be it at practice, in the bench or in the starting lineup. If I do start I will do everything I can for Maccabi. Of course I’m always ready to start and I’m available when the club needs me.”

Zahavi- “I believe in our team”

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Right before Maccabi heads to Ben Gurion airport for Matchday Three of the Champions League Group Stages, captain Eran Zahavi spoke about the match versus Maccabi Petach Tikva and the transition to European competition this time against Porto, Tuesday 21:45 Israel time.

“We had a tough match against Petach Tikva but most importantly we took the points and increased our lead at the top of the table. After Lifshitz’s red card Tal (Ben Chaim) did a great job and gave us confidence to finish off the game,” Zahavi said with a smile. The captain continued to describe the differences between the match with Petach Tikva and the game before against Akko and how they will go into the Champions League match:

“I think that both the game against Petach Tikva and Akko will help us as every match gets us in better shape. We will be playing a game at a totally different level and we have to get ourselves prepared for that. I really hope we can get a good result and now we’re going to deal with Porto. We want to take some points and make sure we get something out of this campaign. We achieved our goal of making it to this tournament but now we have to try and get something out of it, play solid football and show that we have something to offer at this level. I believe in our team and I hope we can do something this Tuesday.”

About the biggest games being played on Europe’s largest stage:

“As a child you dream about playing on the biggest football stage in the world and that’s where we are. We didn’t come into this just to be here and I hope we can achieve the goals we set for ourselves and succeed in the upcoming match.”

Lifshitz- “I was very happy to make my debut”

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Daniel Lifshitz made his debut for Maccabi Tel Aviv in a 2:1 victory over Maccabi Petach Tikva but didn’t finish the match off in goal due to receiving a late red card.

“I’m happy that we ended up winning the match and that’s the most important thing here. We took the three points and I was very happy to make my debut even though I picked up a red card.

It’s not easy to get opportunities with Maccabi Tel Aviv:

“I think I had a good first half and made a number of saves. I knew what the situation would be at Maccabi when I came to the club and we play in a number of competitions so I knew I would have some opportunities.”

What did Shura do to prepare you for the match:

“There wasn’t anything special that he did, but he always makes sure that I’m ready to go like I’m situations like this. He told me in the morning and away we went.”

On the match itself:

“We had a really good second half, but the first half was somewhat of a test to see how we would play with a certain style, one that we may use at a later time.”

Tal Ben Chaim ended of the match as the ‘keeper in a 2:1 win over Maccabi Petach Tikva

How as it like to have to play in goal for the last few minutes of the match:

“It was funny, I wanted to catch the ball with my hands but then I just kicked it out. It was a nice change to play ‘keeper.”

The match against Petach Tikva wasn’t easy:

“This was a good team, Maccabi Petach Tikva is an excellent side and they are in second place. At their stadium of course it will be a tough game. Even a match that ends 5:0 like a couple of weeks ago is at easy and it took us a while to open up the match. Bottom line is that we’re happy we won the game and we are just at the beginning of a run of games that are going to be very important.”

On the Champions League match against Porto this week:

“We have no monkey in our backs as the Champions League group stages are a different level and much better clubs that we are facing. These are bigger teams with larger budgets and we just want to do our best and get a good result. We have to work hard and fight on the pitch and do what the coach wants us to do. We will do our best and I promise our fans we will try our hardest.”

Arie: “The Players Understand that this is a dream”

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The Under-19 team will fly to Porto on Sunday for their Champions League Youth League match as they will face FC Porto on Machday Three. Just before the club heads off to Europe, Ziv Arie spoke about his club’s 1:0 win over Nes Tziona, the Champions League game and the busy week ahead for Maccabi “Shachar”:

“We’re preparing for the match within a number of parameters. In the match against Nes Tziona we wanted to make sure our opponent wouldn’t have any dangerous chances on our goal. Over the years with a strong offensive side or one that’s no so AQ7A9187strong, any time we don’t give up a foolish goal we end up winning the game. On Saturday we did a good job with that. Not only did we control the game we had a bunch of chances. We should’ve had 6-7 goals in our favor.”

On the offensive side that couldn’t succeed in scoring more goal:

“I told the players that we have a young and inexperienced offense, one that’s pretty new so it will take some time to adjust. Until we can get better in this aspect of the game we will have to keep taking points as best as we can and we’ve been able to do that in all of the matches except for one.”

There’s many matches coming up for the young Yellow-and-Blue:

“I’m not going to lie, we are thinking about all of the games that we have. We’re flying on Sunday and the Champions League is an incredible experience. Porto is an excellent team that came back from being 3 goals down in one of the games. Like all AQ7A9207of the other Champions League matches we have, we’ll come to play football, play better defense and get a good result. When we get back to Israel we will have to prepare for Maccabi Haifa, a match that we always like to play in.”

The feeling amongst the players:

“The players understand that this is a dream and we spoke about this just last night. They’re playing in the Champions League and some may even play with the first team in the Toto Cup. We told them that with hard work anything is possible.”

Maccabi Shachar picks up 1-0 victory

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Matchday Four of the Ligat Ha’Al Youth League saw Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv picking up a 1:0 victory over Sektzia Nes Tziona away on a goal by Tomer Altman. Ziv Arie’s side controlled the tempo of the match and scored the winner in the 13th minute. On Sunday the club will head to Portugal along with the first team as they will play in the Champions League Youth League against Porto.

The first half saw Maccabi “Shachar” hold possession of the ball and had an early chance by captain Dan Glazer in the 10th minute as his scorcher of a shot hit off of the post. But just three minutes later Tomer Altman found the back of the Nes Tziona goal to take a 1:0 lead. A group effort saw Gabi Kanikovski’s shot saved by the Nes Tziona ‘keeper with the rebound being put into the goal by Altman. More opportunities followed for Maccabi with Or Dasa and Bar Galili unable to increase the lead. Amit Shapira, Mahmoud Alawesat, Amit Rosenboim and Shay Golan also provided chances for the Under-19 side.

Maccabi “Shachar” continued to control the tempo in the second half but couldn’t find a way past the Nes Tziona ‘keeper as Dasa, Kanikovski, Altman and Alawesat all had opportunities. The important win right before the Champions League Youth League match in Porto will send off the club in good spirits as they will play Maccabi Haifa next week in the domestic competition.

Rali: “It’s a lot of fun to get back to playing”

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Maccabi Tel Aviv recorded their fifth victory on Matchday Seven, defeating Maccabi Petach Tikva 2:1 on goals by Garcia and Zahavi. Daniel Lifshitz made his debut in goal for the Yellow-and-Blue along with Oz Rali for their first official match with the club. The new defensive back spoke about his first game with Maccabi:

יוקאנוביץ’: “אני תמיד מאמין שאני יכול לנצח”

“This was a great debut and win for both me and the club. I haven’t played in an official match for a couple of months and I started off strong at the beginning of the game but tailed off near the end with muscle cramps. Slowly but surely I’ll keep improving.”

On his physical condition for the match against Porto on Tuesday:

“We’ll work on it during training and I’ll receive treatments. I believe I’ll be ready to go against Porto.”

Getting used to playing with Maccabi:

“There’s nothing better than to be with a club like Maccabi Tel Aviv. It’s a lot of fun to get back to playing after such a long time and now the responsibility is on me to perform. I arrived after the team had qualified for the Champions League and it took me some time to get used to the training sessions and the coach’s style of play. I’m happy that today I finally had a chance to play.”

Jokanovic: “I always believe that we can win every game”

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After some late drama, Maccabi picked up an important away win against Maccabi Petach Tikva at the Moshava Stadium. The match saw winger Tal Ben Chaim finish the game in goal as ‘keeper when Daniel Lifshitz was sent off and the team had already used all of its substitutions. The head coach summed up his side’s victory, and looked ahead to the Champions League game on Tuesday:

יוקאנוביץ’: “אני תמיד מאמין שאני יכול לנצח”

 “The match was not easy, especially because we didn’t start off well. We tried to play with three central defenders but we gave up too much space in the midfield. In the second half we moved to two central defenders and we looked better and won the game. In order to play football you must have some personality and be able to take risks. Sometimes we don’t pressure well enough on offense and we don’t defend properly on the defensive side. This could be a problem against good teams.”

 On Ben Chaim playing as ‘keeper:

 “I asked goalkeeping coach Shura who would be the best choice to play in goal and he felt that Tal Ben Chaim would be the best possibility. He did the job and saved us in the final moments of the match.”DSC_3036

Prior to the match against Porto:

“I always believe that we can win every game. We will go there and try to be as organized as possible. We will fight on the pitch and we’ll work very hard. We have less of a chance there than in the league. We’ll come into the match with a lot of ambition and optimism to the best of our abilities. The club waited 11 years to be here and we now see how difficult a competition this is. Porto will be a challenge and we will try to surprise them.”