The Maccabi "Shachar" Tel Aviv Under-19 team and its coach took a historical point in a 1:1 draw with Dynamo Kyiv. The goal scorer, Kanichowsky: "We wanted to win and we gave our maximum"
Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv added a new page to the youth team’s history book after drawing 1:1 against Dynamo Kyiv and collected its first point in the Champions League Youth League.
The coach, Ziv Arie summed up the match saying:
“I wanted to take a point against Chelsea, but it was just not realistic. But here we did take a point. All of the other teams in this competition are better than us, maybe not on a personal level or in training, but their speed and their physical play. In every match we play we want to take a least a point. We want to look good and be able to stand toe-to-toe at the highest levels and make sure we perform on the pitch. It’s tough as there are really some great teams here, the top of the top. Usually I’m not thrilled with a draw, but I’m happy as to how we looked.”
On the players performance:
“We changed our system up a bit and we also wanted to do so on Saturday against Sakhnin but it just didn’t work. Gabriel Kanichowsky is a player born in 1997 and he has to do a bit more. He’s one of the older guys on the team and he’s taken that responsibility upon himself.”
On participating in the competition:
“It’s a rare opportunity, and each game here is equal to eight regular league matches. Especially in its intensity, I’m enjoying it. At the Chelsea match I told the players that instead of being with their families (on Rosh HaShana) they travelled to play a game, yesterday instead of sleeping in the Sukkah they trained and prepared for the match. There’s a lot of games and it’s a dream.”
The first ever goal scorer for Maccabi “Shachar” in the Champions League Youth League was Gabriel Kanichowsky, and he said following the match:
“It’s an experience and a lot of fun for the team, we wanted to win and we gave our maximum and as we continue on we want to pick up more points in the other matches. Of course I’m happy I scored but it makes absolutely no difference if it was me or one of my teammates. The main thing is that the ball went into the goal. The heat affected both teams, and our opponent came from a country with a colder climate. There’s no question that this competition is the best thing that could have happened to us and also for football in Israel in general. What will be against Porto? It’ll be difficult, but I hope we will also collect points in Portugal.”
Central Defender Eitan Tibi spoke to the official Maccabi Tel Aviv website about the 2:0 loss to Dynamo Kiev, the disappointment and looked ahead to Akko:
It seems you’re more disappointed after this loss that when you played at Chelsea:
“Yes, there’s a reason because we were better today and we could have gotten a better result than the way it ended. We had some good chances and in Europe it’s hard to get to some of these chances as its very challenging for us to score in these types of competitions. We gave up two goals and we will continue to get better as the matches go by.”
This was perhaps a chance to take some points:
“We show up to win, to give back to the supporters and to learn how to play this type of match which I’m sure we will. There was a difference in level of play in this game compared to the one against Chelsea.”
Did you feel that you were in control of the match:
“I think that there were times today that we controlled the match and we had much more ball movement than them. Of course we always want to work hard and to get a good result.”
Will you be able to make the switch between the Champions League and the Israeli League:
“There’s no question that the match against Akko is not easy and they are a good team with 9 points already but we will rest a bit to clear out of our minds and I’m sure we will arrive with a lot of energy and motivation in order to win.”
Maccabi Tel Aviv’s midfielders Gal Alberman, Nikola Mitrovic, Gili Vermoith and winger Tal Ben Chaim spoke to the media following their side’s 2:0 loss to Dynamo Kiev at Sammy Ofer Stadium. Alberman: “I think he’s getting better game by game”
אלברמן וטל בן חיים לאחר המשחק נגד דינמו קייב
Maccabi Tel Aviv lost 2:0 to Dynamo Kiev on goals by Andriy Yarmolenko and Junior Moraes Tuesday night on Matchday Two of the UEFA Champions League Group Stages. A number of players spoke about the match itself and the young Serbian ‘keeper:
Thoughts on the match:
“I think we played better than last game and it’s too bad that we couldn’t get a better result tonight.”
On the goals of the European campaign:
“We set a target for ourselves which was to make it to the Champions League and now that we’re here we are giving the maximum that we can. We aren’t looking at other Israeli teams and how they did in past tournaments, sure we would like to score and collect some points but we are under no pressure to do so.”
Alberman also discussed how Predrag Rajkovic is acclimating to playing with Maccabi:
“I think he has been getting better game to game. He came to us for a match and then he went to his National Team but he’s still adjusting to his new situation. We can all see that he is a very high quality ‘keeper both in the matches and in the training sessions. He will help Maccabi Tel Aviv and we are all here to make him as comfortable as possible.”
Gili Vermouth, one of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s midfielders also spoke about the match against Kiev, ‘keeper Rajkovic, the differences between Kiev and Chelsea and the fabulous fans:
On Rajkovic:
“I think he’s getting better and that he had a good match today. It’s not easy for him as he’s just so young and he’s playing on top of that in a foreign country. He still needs to time to adapt to his new country.”
About the match itself and expectations:
“Were disappointed as we hoped to take at least a point in this match but it didn’t happen. There’s no question that the clubs in our group are excellent, but we also expect from ourselves to take some points including from teams that are better than us. We had some chances but then we gave up a goal at the beginning of each half which but we are looking at ourselves to score some goals, collect some points and as the coach said that Maccabj keeps improving. When you play these types of teams you will pay a price when you make a mistake and unfortunately for us it happened early on in the match.”
What can you say about the supporters:
“It was a lot of fun and there was an incredible the atmosphere in the stadium. The fans did a great job even when we were down 1:0 and then 2:0. We owe it to them to continue playing the best we can.”
What differences can you see between the teams you’ve faced so far:
“There is a huge difference between Chelsea and Kiev. We don’t have much to show against a team like Chelsea especially on the road. But at home our chances always increase to get a good result against any team. Just look at today where we had 30,000 supporters cheering us on and anything can happen in this type of situation. We lost today, but they are still a team that we could’ve taken points from and we may when we visit Kiev.”
Tal Ben Chaim who came into the match in the second half also commented on the 2:0 loss to Dynamo Kiev:
Do you think you could’ve gotten a better result:
“Sure, against a team that we are fighting for third place in the group we certainly wanted a better result. They had a couple of chances and they scored but we have to look at the bright side and see that we played much better than we did against Chelsea.”
Did you have a letdown after the early goal:
“We didn’t breakdown or have a letdown after the goal. We kept playing hard and they had very few chances just when they scored. But that’s football. It may be that we’ll collect points against teams that people didn’t expect us to just like the way we made it past Basel and into the Champions League.”
Serbian midfielder Nikola Mitrovic talked about the disappointment of not scoring and not taking any points from a home match against Dynamo Kiev:
Were you upset about the result:
“It’s the Champions League and we had our chances here today and also against Chelsea in England but we didn’t score. When you don’t score and you make a mistake you’re usually going to pay for it.”
Can Maccabi take some points:
“We can win some of the games, but there are good teams. Today we played ok today but when we conceded the first goal and we didn’t surrender and then we conceded a second goal and didn’t score. So when you don’t score and you give up goals it’s always going to be difficult to win.”
The Yellow-and-Blue Head Coach Slavisa Jokanovic discussed his club’s 2:0 defeat at the hands of Dynamo Kiev on Matchday Two of the Champions League Group Stages at Sammy Ofer Stadium. Maccabi was able to control the tempo of the match for large swathes of time, however they couldn’t find a way past the Ukranian champions ‘keeper Olexandr Shovkovskiy.
יוקאנוביץ’: “מאוכזב מהתוצאה, מרוצה מההתקדמות.”
Your initial thoughts on the match:
“I am satisfied with our performance today and we improved on the match in Stamford Bridge. We were unlucky at the beginning of the game as they scored a quality goal then and again at the start of the second half. Dynamo Kiev showed that they were a better team than us today and we can continue to improve. We have to live in our real life. We have to be stronger and better in order to defeat a team like Dynamo Kiev.”
On playing in the Champions League:
“We deserve to be here. I understand your frustration and we’re all upset with the result. Zahavi scored a goal that was offside and it was small detail, but we all depend on those small details. I’m very happy that my team is here and we have four more games and 12 points left. If we score or if we don’t score we have to be proud to be here after 11 years. With a bit more power we could be doing an even better job. This is not the end of the campaign and we can still surprise some people just as other teams did so today in other matches.”
Did the team follow the game plan:
“More or less we followed the plan, but they killed us with a very quick goal. We played a quality first half and we played with only one foreign player by the end of the match which was the ‘keeper.”
What do you need to improve:
“We need to improve everything and they were stronger and more physical than us. They were also much faster than us as we didn’t have many chances in the last 20 or so minutes as we didn’t have enough strength left. You have to remember that we were able to get by two quality teams in Viktoria Plzen and Basel. But at this level it’s a different story.”
Are you satisfied with Avi Rikan’s play and can you comment on Eran Zahavi:
“Rikan played against very talented players and he did a good job today. Zahavi did a great job at the beginning of our campaign and he can play in a variety of positions.”
Maccabi Tel Aviv took on Dynamo Kiev on Matchday Two of the UEFA Champions League Group Stages at Sammy Ofer Stadium in Haifa. The Yellow-and-Blue returned to the illustrious tournament after an absence of eleven years and played their first home match since 2004. However, Kiev poured cold water on the return winning 2:0 on goals by Andriy Yarmolenko and Junior Moraes.
Head Coach Slavisa Jokanovic started Serbian youngster Predrag Rajkovic in goal with a back four of Eitan Tibi and Tal Ben Haim as the central defenders. Eli Dasa played at right back and made his first Champions League appearance as Avi Rikan moved back from the midfield to play left back as he did Saturday night against Maccabi Haifa. Gal Alberman played in his usual defensive midfielder position with Dor Peretz starting to his left and Nikola Mitrovic on his right. Rounding out the starting lineup was Gili Vermouth, Eden Ben Basat and captain Eran Zahavi.
It didn’t take much time for a Champions League goal to be scored in Israel, unfortunately though it was by the feet of Dynamo Kiev’s lethal striker Andriy Yarmolenko who stayed onside and beat Rajkovic to take a quick 1:0 lead in the 4th minute. However, Maccabi came back strong and began controlling the tempo of the first half when Eran Zahavi looked to have evened the score in the 9th minute but his goal was called offside.
Though Maccabi was holding the ball, chances were hard to come by and in the 22nd minute Danilo Silva picked Avi Rikan’s pocket and went in alone on Rajkovic but the ‘keeper was up to the task to keep the score at 1:0 Kiev. Rikan made up for his error as he sent Zahavi in for a wonderful chance in the 32nd minute as his sharp angled shot was blocked by ‘keeper Olexander Shovkovskiy for a corner kick.
Kievwould have a couple of wonderful opportunities by Junior Moraes and Yarmolenko but both chances were saved by Rajkovic giving Maccabi confidence as Dasa’s excellent ball to Ben Basat was headed just wide of the far post with Kiev heading into the half with a slim 1:0 lead.
To begin the second half Maccabi made their first substitution of the match bringing on Tal Ben Chaim for an injured Eden Ben Basat as Maccabi looked for the equalizer. But it would be Junior Moraes who would find the back of the goal first to give Kiev a 2:0 lead in the 50th minute, beating Rajkovic to the right corner and doubling the scoreline. Just minutes later, Zahavi would have a magnificent chance to cut the lead but his left side free kick just sailed over the Kiev crossbar.
Maccabi brought on Barak Itzhaki for Mitrovic to try and jump start the offense in the 60th minute and Dor Micha for Gili Vermouth in the 78th minute but both moves were to no avail as Maccabi fell to the Ukrainian champions 2:0.
Rosh HaShana eve. Matchday One of the Champions League. It took us a while to believe that we were part of this amazing competition. And imagine we were playing our first match at Ramat Gan Stadium against none other than Bayern Munich in a group that featured “The Old Lady” Juventus and the classic Jewish Club of Holland, Ajax.
The night before the first game we were staying at the Intercontinental Hotel and when I lay down lots of things ran through my head. How would such a young team with very little experience play against this huge well-oiled German powerhouse? I was a ‘keeper with some experience but how would I stand up against such an amazing offense that would create wave after wave of attacks. Did anyone say that this was a “White Night”?
Once the opening kickoff took place all of tension exploded from Matchday One all the way until the final game against Juventus. It was a campaign that we came into without a ton of experience as we were so young but we were still able to take four points from a win against Ajax and a draw versus Juventus. I think what characterized the competition for us was our determination, sacrifice and courage to be able to look these top teams right into the white of their eyes.
This takes me to the current Maccabi Tel Aviv campaign. Even though the club lost to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge the players can be proud of themselves for their effort (even our team gave up five goals to Bayern). They have to keep giving it all they’ve got on the pitch and enjoy the whole experience. Let’s be honest with ourselves, there’s a huge gap between the big European clubs and us.
Any team that Maccabi could’ve gotten in the draw would have been tough be it at home or on the road, but you never know as they could surprise us. Most importantly we have to take this all in proportion and try out best to keep to the tactical game plan and the key will be that every player needs to give over 100% of themselves on the pitch in each and every match.
One more point that’s very close to my heart – and this is about Rajkovic the young ‘keeper. The 19-year old came to Maccabi with very high expectations and a lot of promise, and rightfully so. But we have to keep in mind that we are still talking about a very young ‘keeper who left his home in Serbia and has now left the safety net of being in his own country to play in a foreign land. Rajkovic is a diamond in the rough due to his young age despite having played for the full Serbian National Team. Fortunately for him, he has come to work with a master teacher in one Shura Uvarov.
He knows how to work with him on his confidence which at times may be a bit too excessive, and he can also teach him technical ball skills, going out for high balls in the box and other things that Rajkovic can certainly handle. Give him some time to adjust and get used to a new language, a new culture and being able to communicate with the players on the field. I believe Maccabi made a great decision to bring him in and this will be proven to be true in the near future.
Lastly, a word about the supporters.
I can make a list with every adjective in the book to describe the great fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv.
But I’ll do it just a short sentence:
You are #1 in all of Europe!
CONGRATULATIONS!
Good luck tonight and good luck this whole campaign!
The Champions League returns to Israel. After a long absence of Israeli representatives in this illustrious competition, Maccabi Tel Aviv hosts Dynamo Kiev this evening at 21:45 on Matchday Two of the Champions League Group Stages. All the fans know what’s in store this evening, so let’s take a look back into the recent past and revisit the last time these two clubs played each other.
In 2011/12 Maccabi Tel Aviv participated in the Europa League Group Stages and were drawn to play the Ukrainian side. The first match was held at Bloomfield Stadium in Israel and Moti Ivanir was the coach of a team that featured some current Yellow-and-Blue players including, Yoav Ziv, Gal Alberman, Barak Itzhaki and Dor Micha who scored the tying goal as a substitute at the end of the first half. Micha’s goal wiped out Kiev’s early lead on a 9th minute strike by Ideye Brown putting the visitors on the scoreboard first.
The match ended in a 1:1 draw leaving all the players and fans thirsting for another tight encounter between the clubs and that’s exactly what we got on the final Matchday when Maccabi visited Kiev with a different coach on the sidelines, Nir Levin from the Yellow-and-Blue Youth Department.
Levin would coach his first game in Europe and it was one that will go down in the record books as a match that will never be forgotten with so many goals and momentum swings. Just like the previous game, Kiev struck first on an own goal by Sheran Yeini. Olexandr Aliyev’s free-kick was headed by Leandro Almeida towards the goal and was diverted into the bottom left-hand corner by the Maccabi captain at the last second to go ahead 1:0. The hosts would double their lead soon after when in the 17th minute Betao found Oleh Gusev deep down the left side with a long ball as the Kiev captain scored to put the home side up 2:0. Maccabi headed into halftime down by two but still with the hope that a comeback was in the cards.
In the 47th minute, Moshiko Lugassi’s fantastic pass sent Eliran Atar alone in on the goal, but the striker was pulled down by Leandro Almeida for a straight red card leaving Kiev with only 10-men. The ensuing free kick taken by Gal Alberman would rebound off the Kiev wall directly to Omer Vered who scored to cut the lead to 2:1. Just seven minutes later Dynamo lost another player to a red card when Yevhen Khacherid got tied up with Yeini and was shown red for his efforts reducing the already short-handed Kiev to 9-men.
Eliran Atar would then draw Maccabi even six minutes later as he came off the left wing into the box and his shot would bounce right before ‘keeper Maxym Koval and into the goal to tie the game up at 2:2. As the match approached the 75th minute, substitute Monas Dabbur would give the guests a short lived 3:2 lead when he stole the ball from the Kiev defense and easily slotted home Maccabi’s third goal of the match. However, Gusev’s second goal of the game would draw the two sides even at 3:3.
In the closing minutes, Maccabi came close to registering the win but it wasn’t meant to be as both clubs are still deadlocked, at least until tonight at Sammy Ofer Stadium.
The Maccabi Under-19 youth team played valiantly against their Kyiv counterparts under a sunny sky and hot temperatures at the Ramat HaSharon stadium as Ziv Arie’s side collected their first point on Matchday Two.
Both clubs began the match tentatively trading opportunities, but it would be Dynamo Kyiv who would strike the first blow as Bogdan Mykhaylichenko would come in from the right side to score for the guests and take a 1:0 lead in the 21st minute. Maccabi would then add an opportunity of their own as Tomer Altman’s chance would be saved by the Ukrainian ‘keeper Vadym Soldatenko.
However, just one minute later the Yellow-and-Blue would be rewarded as Gavriel Kanichowsky would score to even the match up on a terrific pass from Eylon Almog to give the close to 1000 fans a chance to cheer the future stars on. Mykhaylichenko almost gave Kyiv the lead except his shot hit off the cross bar and Kanichowsky would have an opportunity for Maccabi to go ahead to no avail as the sides headed into halftime all knotted up at 1:1.
The second half saw Maccabi “Shachar” dominate the play but chances by Almog, Or Dasa, Amit Shapira and Bar Galili couldn’t break the deadlock as the match ended in a 1:1 draw.
Maccabi Tel Aviv Starting Lineup: Haviv Ohayon, Maxim Grechkin, Idan Yogev (Amit Rosenboim 45′), Bar Galili, Ran Vaturi, Dan Glazer, Shai Golan, Tomer Altman (Amit Shapira 67′), Gavriel Kanichowsky, Or Dasa, Eylon Almog (Dor Galili 74′)
A day of Champions League football begins tomorrow as Maccabi Tel Aviv faces Dynamo Kyiv on Matchday Two of the Champions League Group Stages. Prior to the main event at Sammy Ofer Stadium, the Maccabi youth side will play its Dynamo Kyiv counterpart at Grundman Stadium in Ramat HaSharon at 13:00.
After the loss against Chelsea in England, the Yellow-and-Blue will attempt to pick up their first points tomorrow. Head Coach Ziv Arie spoke to the official website about how the players are feeling about playing in the illustrious competition, the match against Dynamo Kyiv and the importance of the supporters at the match:
“I believe that there is a lot of excitement amongst the players, but we are trying to keep a low profile. Every match in a European competition is an amazing experience for us and we are trying to be as professional as possible and separate ourselves from all of the excitement that comes with it.”
On the desire to pick up points tomorrow:
“As crazy as it may sound so we believed that we could defeat Chelsea. It’s important for us to look good, play attractive football and compete as these levels against these types of teams and to take some points. Dynamo Kyiv’s youth side might not be at the level of Chelsea’s but they are still at a higher level than what we would normally face.”
On the importance of the supporters tomorrow:
“We purposely picked a small stadium so that the fans can be a part of the action. It’s important that there’s a good football atmosphere with a lot of supporters in general and especially ours.”
Just three days after the victory over Maccabi Haifa at Sammy Ofer Stadium, Maccabi Tel Aviv is preparing for their match against Dynamo Kyiv on Matchday Two of the Champions League that will take place at the same stadium.
Just prior to the final training session, Head Coach Slavisa Jokanovic spoke about his club’s preparations to face the Ukrainian champions:
“We have to be ready for this type of competition. Even more prepared than usual. What happened at Stamford Bridge is history and I hope that we can get a better result,” the coach said. “It’s not a question of who is better and who is worse before the game actually takes place. Over the last few months we’ve had very important games and we deserve to be where we are today. It’s a tough game and we have to respect ourselves and try to do everything to give our best performance.”
What needs to be done in order to get a better result than in Stamford Bridge:
“You can’t compare the two sides. This will be different than what was against Chelsea. There are different players that play a different style of football. We will be ready and we’re prepared for this type of match in order to get a better result. We’ll do everything to get a better result than at Stamford Bridge.”
What would be a good result?
“It depends on the game. We have to get a feel of how the match will unfold. During a game many things can happen.”
On Rajkovic:
“The match on Saturday gave us all confidence. I talk to all of the players not just him. It’s not about just one player or another, it’s about how the whole team comes to play in the match. This is a great opportunity for us. We have to be mentally focussed in order to be the best that we can in order to get the best result that we can from the match.”
Can Maccabi do something that other clubs haven’t:
“Tomorrow we have an opportunity to take another step forward as a club. We respect all of our opponents but first and foremost we respect ourselves. The match against Kyiv is very important.”
Will you play more offensive or defensive players against Dynamo Kyiv:
“I will try to find a good balance for the club on the pitch, if we play with just one striker it doesn’t mean we will play defensively. I want my club to play well and correctly so there won’t be a big difference between the players on the two teams.”
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toe at the highest levels and make sure we perform on the pitch. It’s tough as there are really some great teams here, the top of the top. Usually I’m not thrilled with a draw, but I’m happy as to how we looked.”
League was Gabriel Kanichowsky, and he said following the match:
