After experiencing an extremely successful summer playing for Israel’s U-21’s during the European Championship Finals, Daniel Peretz kicked off the 2023/24 campaign on a high with a 6-1 Toto Cup victory over Hapoel Be’ersheva. Besides advancing to the Semi Final of the competition with an emphatic victory over one of the title contenders at their own back-yard, the 23-year-old keeper reached a landmark by playing his 100th match for the club.
Peretz, remained humble at the end of the of the match as he tried explaining the outcome on the night: “I think what stood out in this game that we stuck to our game plan. We played the football expected of us – brave football. We moved the ball around even when they (Be’ersheva) pressed us and found solutions. The players were brave to receive the ball despite being under pressure. Although we are delighted with the result, I am not going to lie and admit that I would have been happy with a 1-0 victory. But the players and the coaching staff here deserve a lot of credit. Now our challenge is to show this kind of form in every game.”
On the connection with the coaching staff and their immediate impact, Peretz added: “I think the connection was made really quickly. There is a positive vibe in the dressing room and in training. We are a hungry team starving for success and this connection is going well.”
When asked whether the performance was more due to Maccabi being strong or the opponents weak on the night, Peretz replied: “It wasn’t easy here tonight. The first half was very tough. We reached the peak of our ability. The second and third goals certainly helped open the game up and knocked them down mentally. The red card they conceded helped as well. But the first half was tough and we would like to continue improving. The last thing we would like to do again is to concede against 10 men.”
On his newly appointed coach, Robbie Keane, Peretz added: “Robbie is a house hold name that everyone around the world know his name. To see him here for the first time was exciting. We don’t have any language barrier whatsoever as we all know English pretty well and the knowledge of football language is international.”
