Ahead of Saturday's Tel Aviv derby, MTA head coach Paulo Sousa spoke about the club's municipal rivals: "They haven't lost in the play-offs"
Maccabi Tel Aviv held a press conference this morning ahead of the team's opening second round Israeli Premier League top-six playoff match against Hapoel Tel Aviv. Before addressing his attention to the forthcoming derby, head coach Paulo Sousa, who watched last night's basketball game in which Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Olimpia Milano to reach the Euroleague Final Four, had a word to say about that team's impressive achievement: "They deserved a big celebration and my congratulations to all of them for reaching the Final Four in Milan. They deserved it, it was amazing, an amazing atmosphere. You know I'm a fan of basketball and I'm a fan of Maccabi Tel Aviv and of the way they're performing and the way they've grown during the season and it's fantastic to see them celebrate all those achievements so far".
Returning to football, everyone at the club is aware that victory in Saturday night's derby could hand Maccabi Tel Aviv the championship. For Sousa, however, the fact that it's a derby is unimportant: "I feel it doesn't matter where it is. This is our proposal from the beginning. This is what Maccabi want to be every season, to fight to win the league. It doesn't matter where. First of all we need to look towards winning and we're working day by day, on a daily basis, to have this mentality, to have a football philosophy, a culture at the club which will carry on as long as possible. This is what we work on on a daily basis and it doesn't matter where the championship match is, we simply want to win. We've been working a long time on winning games and the league and it doesn't matter where it happens. We want to celebrate but first we need to collect points, we need to win games to allow us to celebrate".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dglk-MGb6SU
He is, however, alive to the added sensitivity of the match: "I think that what's special is what I feel from my players and I said from the beginning that the best feeling a coach can have is recognition from them because they come on a daily basis with joy to work, to develop and be satisfied with everything we can give to them to enable them to perform and get results and claim wins. It's something the club want to get used to and everybody is working on that".
"When you talk about the culture, it's also about the mentality, not only about the players, not only about the staff, it's everything around them. And also you yourself get used to being different than in the past, especially with Maccabi. I always say football is not only about the players. The players are the main protagonists but I think if everyone who is involved in football is positive, everyone will gain. Especially in this country, because I think this country has lots of potential in many areas, also in football. And if there is positive behaviour I'm sure the growth and development of this football will be much quicker in leading to better performances and results".
Asked if was still possible, mathematically at least, to lose the title, Sousa responded: "There is still this possibility. We need to make sure we arrive at the end of the season like we started the season, in the first position. I cannot forget the many times we were here in this room and you suggested different kinds of scenarios, always putting us under pressure not to win. But from the beginning it was very clear – our words, our behaviour, everything we did on the pitch – that we want to make sure in the end that we'll still be first because this is something we want to do every year".
Journalists were also curious about Sousa's opinion of the balance of forces between the two clubs contesting the derby on Saturday: "In each previous derby match I've said there's lots of balance between the teams. As I've said before, for me it's the best team playing in the tight spaces, it's the team that expresses itself best, they have the players to do it and for that reason it was always very balanced. They're also the only team that haven't lost in the play-offs, they've been growing during the season, with more stability in the club, especially in the team, and it's expressed in their results. For that reason too I expect a balanced game. Hopefully we can perform like we performed during the first part of the last game against them".
He was also asked about the status of Maccabi's star midfielder, Eran Zahavi, who suffered a strain in the thigh muscle and missed Monday's match at Bnei Sakhnin: "Eran Zahavi started training yesterday, he had a full training. He still has some way to go to reach 100% fitness, but we're already integrating control of the training intensity and in the next two days we hope there can be a possibility for us of having him in the game".
Finally, on a lighter note, the Maccabi head coach was asked if he'd already ordered his season 2013/14 championship t-shirt. Pointing to the Maccabi shirt he was wearing he said: "I have this yellow t-shirt which I love a lot, a t-shirt with lots of perspiration because we work really hard to get victory after victory, to be consistent in everything we do to the very end to get what we're looking for every year, to win the league".
Also attending the press conference was the team's Spanish goalkeeper Juan Pablo Colinas, who last summer signed on at Maccabi for one season. His opening words were music to the ears of the many Maccabi fans who have grown to love and admire him throughout his first successful season at the club: "I can tell you I signed on for another year. I'm very very happy to stay here, to play at Maccabi. That's it, it's simple". As for the possibility that Saturday night could be Maccabi's championship match, Juan Pablo said: "Of course everybody is talking about the fact that we might become champions but we need to play and it's not sure it will happen. A lot of things can happen. My opinion is that it's game by game. First of all we need to win, we have to play our game. After that we'll see what happens".
Responding to a remark that Monday night's loss to Bnei Sakhnin might not be a match the team wished to remember, the six foot two inch goalkeeper said: "Yes we played really badly but this is the past, we can't do anything about it now. All we can do is put all the focus on the next game. Of course it's a derby, an important game for Maccabi. To win in this game is really really hard because they (Hapoel) play very well. But we trust in our work and we hope to win".
Asked if he, like his Portuguese head coach, was aware that ahead of Saturday feelings were running high among the Maccabi faithful, Juan Pablo replied: "I don't understand Hebrew but I understand it's an important game for everyone, but like I told you, I trust in our work. We hope we can win and after that we'll see if we can be champions or not".
