MTA coach Garcia: “Now it’s just the Cup”

If one thing stands out about Maccabi Tel Aviv this season it's this: their home is their castle. Last night the Yellows chalked up their ninth home victory out of ten with a 4-0 win against Hapoel Acco. Early goals by midfielder Dor Micha and captain Sheran Yeini gave Maccabi a two goal halftime advantage. Striker Eliran Atar's second half brace, with assists from Moshe Lugassi (one of his two in the match) and Rade Pricca, finished off the scoring and brought Atar's season total to 18 goals. The victory over Hapoel Acco is just the opener of a week of three matches the Yellows will be playing, and the upcoming cup tie on Tuesday against Maccabi Netanya was also a subject on all the players' lips.

 

Maccabi head coach Oscar Garcia had mixed feelings about the match: "We respect every rival we play. We must improve at home and on the road. I'm not entirely satisfied because we're not converting all of our chances in front of goal. Now our only thoughts are on the next match against Netanya in the National Cup. It's my responsibility to prepare the squad for this match and the only thing I can do is to try to get them to play even better." Concerning Yoav Ziv, who was injured during the second half and left the pitch with Maccabi having already made all three substitutions, he added: "He wanted to return to the match after his injury but we wanted him to rest so as not to make the injury any worse."

 

Dor Micha, who scored Maccabi's first goal, said: "We mustn't be thinking about the derby with Hapoel, we have a tough match next Saturday against Hapoel Ramat Gan and that should be our only focal point." About himself he said: "I'm in reasonable form of late, but I could be playing even better. The addition of the new players is a good thing because only the in form players are being included in the side so we all have to improve." Concerning Eran Zahavi he said: "I'm very happy he's joined us because we can all learn from his experience and his talent."

 

Moshe Lugassi, who made assists on Maccabi's second and third goals, also had a word to say about Zahavi's joining the club: "He's a very talented guy and I wish him the greatest success at Maccabi". Talking about himself the midfielder then added: "I'm glad I'm getting this opportunity to play because I've been waiting for it and working hard to get it. This is my home and I hope to make it a success." He had this to say about the Cup tie with Maccabi Netanya: "What happened last season is finished, now we're in a new season. I'm sure Oscar will prepare us for the match in the best way possible and we'll be trying to go the whole nine yards."