This morning the Maccabi Tel Aviv squad held a final practice ahead of their home tie against Hapoel Ra'anana tomorrow night. MTA head coach Paulo Sousa: "They've conceded as few goals as we have"
This morning the Maccabi Tel Aviv squad made their final preparations ahead of tomorrow night's home tie at Bloomfield Stadium against high flying Israel Premier League newcomers, Hapoel Ra'anana. Maccabi head coach Paulo Sousa chatted with reporters ahead of the match against the team that currently occupy the fourth position in the table: "The game plan, as always, is to stick to our principles, to our way of playing, but without losing sight of the qualities of our opponents. This is a team that have conceded as few goals as we have, a very well organised side, who are very good at switching from defence to attack, who know exactly how to take advantage of their chances and score and that's something we must always try to prevent. We're hoping to succeed in doing just that and not to concede any goals".
Young international midfielder Dor Micha, who has been sidelined for six weeks by injury, talked about getting back into play: "First of all I'm very happy to be back, I'm fully fit now. I must say a word of thanks to the medical staff who worked with me and got me back into excellent shape and I expect to get back on the pitch now. We've seen Hapoel Ra'anana make life difficult for a lot of clubs this season, they're a really good side, a team that hold their own on the pitch. We've faced opponents like this in the past and we'll simply have to prepare ourselves well for this match too. It's not the first time that clubs play Maccabi Tel Aviv, even more so at Bloomfield Stadium, and set up with ten men in front of their own goal, that's fine, perfectly legitimate. So we'll just have to find a way around that, I'm sure we can, we just have to make sure we make it work on the pitch".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTRXzjpBJ6Q
Micha also talked about his match fitness this season in comparison to last season: "Obviously, after playing so much last year and being such a significant part of the season I want to raise my game this season and improve my abilities so I can play an important role with the team. With this injury, and such a big squad, I've played a bit less, but every minute of match play I get I'll give everything I have on the pitch. I'm learning a lot from the coach just like all the other players, I'm moving forward and I hope now that my injury is behind me to progress at an even faster pace".
