Maccabi Tel Aviv head coach Paulo Sousa expressed his disappointment that his squad are scheduled to play a league match just three days before their important Europa League tie against Eintracht Frankfurt
Maccabi Tel Aviv held their final practice this morning ahead of tomorrow night's away match at Vasermil Stadium against Hapoel Beer Sheva. Before the practice, head coach Paulo Sousa and midfielder Omri Altman arrived at the studio for a pre-match press conference. Despite the fact that the first questions concerned the stadium, in particular in light of last season's 3-0 loss in the parallel fixture, the head coach preferred to devote his first remarks to the scheduling of the match itself: "I'm sure that the whole club, me in particular and everyone connected to the club, are disappointed that the match was scheduled for tomorrow (Monday) while all of our European rivals were able to play their fixtures on Saturday, Sunday at the outside. I'm very disappointed in this lack of co-operation in promoting Israeli football and enabling it to grow in Europe".
The coach continued: "So far Vasermil Stadium is concerned, as I've said before, we want to develop ourselves mentally every day so that we're not thinking of any particular stadium or opponent. We respect our rivals but we're Maccabi Tel Aviv and we're preparing and working towards this match just like any other match. Whoever the opponent, whatever the match, we're focused on the three points. The match on Thursday (against Frankfurt) will not influence our preparations for tomorrow's match, because we concentrate on one match at a time. It's just disappointing that we have to compete against clubs who play in leagues of such high level and quality while it will only be that much more difficult if we have just two days to rest. But still our focus is only on Hapoel Beer Sheva".
The coach was asked if that wasn't the very reason that he built a squad with such depth. He explained: "We have a squad with the same qualities as other squads, like I said from the very start, I don't want a squad of eighteen players, I want a squad where every player can compete for his position. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with playing two matches three days apart, I'm just saying it's hard to recuperate between those matches when your opponent has more time than you do. When you have so little time you can't work on certain things in your preparations for the next match. It's not for me that I'm asking more time, it's for Israeli football. I know the facts and I know it's not just the fault of the (Israeli Football) Association, but it's a matter of sensitivity. Not just for Maccabi, it's for all of the players competing in Europe. It's a matter of promoting Israeli football in Europe".
Sousa also showed he's no stranger to what awaits him tomorrow: "I know what the stadium looks like, obviously we won't know the condition of the pitch till we get there because it's their venue. I know what our pitch is like, it's one of the best in Israel, if not the best. And that's because we always want to play positive football and it's important what kind of shape the stadium and the pitch are in. So to get back to Hapoel Beer Sheva, when I first arrived and also a week before the match in Haifa they told me it's a difficult venue for us, but that's how we play, by respecting our opponents and going after the three points. I'm not worried about how Maccabi fared at Vasermil last year, my concerns are about our opponents right now, about their abilities and whether our players will be sufficiently prepared to give it their best and bring home the full points".
Midfielder Omri Altman was also asked to say a word about the eventful week the squad are facing: "It won't be easy for us to prepare for Thursday's match, we finish the Beer Sheva match on Monday night and we'll have only two days to recover. It's not an ideal situation. No team in Europe has to put up with that, I've never heard of a team that had to play on Monday in the league and on Thursday in Europe, I've never seen it and I can't imagine it happening. Not in England at least. Frankfurt played yesterday, not even on Sunday and now they have five days to prepare themselves, we won't even have two".
Altman added: "In every squad, here and in Europe, there's the same number of players. We have lots of quality in our squad and we have to approach Thursday's match with a view to winning. It's wonderful for me to be here at Maccabi, I feel like I'm making progress every day, I feel like I'm appreciated here and I get my time on the pitch. The most important thing is to carry on and improve. We don't compare ourselves to other teams, we just focus on ourselves and approach each match with a view to winning. We're aiming to do something this season that hasn't been seen here in recent years".
As for Thursday's Europa League home tie against Eintracht Frankfurt, Altman added: "Of course we have a chance, we're in this to get to the next stage, we've said that from the very beginning, we're not doing it just for the experience. We want to win every match, we believe we can beat every team in our group and we're in it to advance. As for me starting, I accept whatever the coach decides, I've no preferences as to when or against whom. What's important is playing".
