After scoring Maccabi Tel Aviv's matchwinner against Maccabi Haifa, midfielder Gal Alberman was unequivocal in his delight: "I'm jealous of the guys who do that all the time"
On the morning after their dramatic injury time victory over Maccabi Haifa, members of the Maccabi Tel Aviv squad awoke to their last practice before the short Passover holiday break. They'll return to training on Thursday ahead of the final contest of the first round of top-six Israeli Premier League playoff matches, an away tie against Bnei Sakhnin.
Asked at the post-match press conference whether his team's 1-0 win against Maccabi Haifa represented an important step towards the championship, Maccabi Tel Aviv head coach Paulo Sousa responded: "Yes, this time a big step closer to our main target, with two different halves. The first one without controlling the game at all, controlling possession of course, but missing simple things straight away. We allowed our opponents to have extra motivation, to believe in themselves, because they are a good team. They've had their problems during the season of course but they also have goals and they proved they are a good team".
Sousa continued: "In the second half we became more ourselves, controlling the game better through possession, which gave us the possibility to be much closer to our opponent's goal, creating some good chances till the end of the game to win these three points. I recognise and am glad for the maturity of my players to handle this kind of game, to change these games, looking for a good result like we got today".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB9U04r3bFQ&list=UU-oWQqnf8B8a_TsmVi0mTUg
Responding to a query about the reasons for the team's somewhat fraught performance in the first half, Sousa said: "It's difficult to understand this straight away. It's normal for a team, especially in the first part of the season when it's so competitive, to have games where not the mental but the physical intensity causes a little bit of tiredness or where the decision making is a little bit slower. We allow the opponent to close us down and put us a little more under pressure. But we started this game fresh and I think regarding the decisions we made, they weren't the best ones. So we gave the opportunity for a good, well organised team to put us a little bit more under pressure straight away. They became more motivated, without of course creating certain situations, they didn't dominate us, but the fact is we didn't control the game or our opponent with the ball either. But in the second half we changed and we became much closer to ourselves. So it's not a question of tiredness, because in the second half we became more intense. Because of that it's sometimes difficult to find out the factors, the X-factors, for certain things".
Sousa was also asked about his choice of midfielder Mahran Radi to take the game's last-minute, ultimately missed penalty, just three minutes before the matchwinner: "The decision is very simple. Radi was an important player last year. He's struggling, also mentally, because it's a new situation for him. He's an important player for us, for our present and our future. He's a player we want to send on in situations where he can perform the best he can. He helped us today and he'll help us in the future. He's playing well and training to perform and when he has the chance to play, like today, he performs quite well. I think that against Maccabi Haifa he always feels he can perform well. Unfortunately for him he did not score the penalty today but he'll score it the next time".
Midfielder Gal Alberman quite naturally opened his post-match comments with a word about his dramatic stoppage time goal: "This is the first time in my career that I've had the privilege to have this feeling of scoring a matchwinner at such an important moment in such an important game. It's not really in the nature of my function in the team, but when it happens it sort of makes you jealous of the guys who get that feeling more often. Really, it's indescribable".
"I can say, though, that it's brought us a lot closer to the title. I have to be honest, we can really feel it getting closer. I mean, every week we try to increase our lead at the top of the table and of course it's not done and dusted quite yet but, yeah, we're getting closer all the time. We feel it getting closer but at a serious club like ours you have to keep up the fight and rake in the points until the very end, till the very last match, because if we want to continue to grow and improve as a club, that's the way we have to do it".
Alberman summed things up: "It's not easy for us. It's been a long season, we competed in Europe for a long time and along the way we've lost a number of the lads to injury. And it hasn't been getting any easier, you have to keep producing throughout and that takes its toll, mentally I mean. I think we've been coping quite well, maybe not perfectly but we've managed to hit new heights even when our performances haven't been the best. And if we really want to progress as a club, that's the foundation. I can't remember the last time Maccabi Tel Aviv have competed in Europe and at the same time managed to stay on top of the league for such a long time. If you ask me that's quite an accomplishment".
Defender Carlos Garcia talked about the team's developing character and last minute goals: "I thought about this after the match. About today, about the derby (against Hapoel Tel Aviv in March when Eran Zahavi scored in injury time to give Maccabi a 2-3 win), about Bnei Yehuda last year (when Moshiko Lugassi did the same). Everybody calls that luck, I don't think so. We work hard to score and so far I'm concerned if we do that in injury time that's bad luck because we should have done it earlier. At the end of the day what's important is the win and if you do it in the last minute it just makes it even nicer because you're already thinking it will end in a draw and suddenly everything changes. But we are very close (to the championship), this is true. We can't say any more than that, but we must keep working, we cannot relax".
