U19 captain Dan Glazer and head coach Ziv Arie are getting ready for Saturday's derby against Hapoel Tel Aviv: "We enjoy the rivalry, but only on the pitch"
"Fair play, first and foremost". This is the message Maccabi Under-19 captain Dan Glazer wishes to broadcast on the eve of Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar"'s long-awaited derby against Hapoel Tel Aviv, to be broadcast starting at noon on Saturday on Israeli sports channel 55. In compliance with police orders the match has been moved from the Kiryat Shalom training ground to the municipal stadium in Ramla. Above all, the U19 skipper is hoping to see fair play, both on the pitch and off: "Our club ethic is to respect the opponent and our profession. First and foremost fair play, and I hope that's how it will turn out, a quiet, respectful atmosphere".
"We're very much hoping that our fans will pitch up in great numbers because that's what really gets us going at the matches here at Kiryat Shalom and what will really help us on Saturday. On the other hand I hope things will remain quiet, both on and off the pitch. When things get out of hand it makes the match look bad and that can break our concentration".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Smr-jbDVXc
"Shachar" head coach Ziv Arie is also asking that the focus should remain on one thing alone: "This is football. I also said that after the last derby. The derbies are grand, we enjoy the rivalry but only on the pitch. We're out there to play football and that's where the rivalry should remain". And it's there that Maccabi's Under-19s have been excelling, going into the derby after nine consecutive wins in all competitions. Glazer: "It's a plain fact that we're in a good run of form and the team definitely look good on the pitch. Every week, every practice, we're told to be better than last time out, to improve in the next practice and that's what we think about all the time". Last Saturday "Shachar" beat Hapoel Haifa to reach the quarter finals of the U19 State Cup competition. They've won seven consecutive league ties and hold a nine-point lead over second-placed Maccabi Haifa in the national U19 Premier League table: "We know we're in a good run of form but still we always want to do more, break new records and win titles".
But despite the run going into the derby, head coach Ziv Arie describes the difficulties his team have had to face in recent weeks: "At every mid-week practice we train with maybe six, eight players. The rest are all either in the army, or training with the national team, or injured". The Under-19 coach went on to describe what he felt was the proper preparation for the forthcoming tie: "Derbies have their own significance but so far the match itself is concerned, it's just another game and no special preparations are required. We're working hard and we're taking our opponents into account like we do every week, but we didn't watch any special videos or add to the training anything special". For Dan Glazer the derby is very significant indeed: "I've been at Maccabi since I was six and we're always taught that the derby is a special match with a special atmosphere and I hope that that at the end of the tie it'll be us doing the smiling".
Glazer also gave us some insight into what we might expect from his team in the course of the season: "Look out for a team that will carry on playing their own game, trying to get better every week. And of course we're Maccabi Tel Aviv, and that means we want to take every title and be the very best. But like coach says every Saturday, what's most important is developing good footballers".
