Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv defeated Kiryat Shemona 1:0 on Saturday at the Ramle Stadium for an important win and 3-points. The Yellow-and-Blue won their second straight game just before they head out to the Ukraine for Matchday Six of the Champions League Youth League where they will play Dynamo Kiev:
“We played an excellent first half at a very high level. If I would have imagined at night how I wanted my team to look, this was exactly how. With rhythm and tempo. I knew that we wouldn’t be able to keep up the pace from the beginning of the game and that Kiryat Shemona would make adjustments so we needed to finish off the half with a two goal lead. Unfortunately it didn’t happen as it hasn’t the whole season because we are a young team up front and we ended up having a very difficult second half. We were saved by a miracle and I wasn’t to pleased about that. We created enough chances and we have plenty to continue working on but we ultimately deserved to win.”
The final match against Dynamo Kiev:
“I’ll have to relax the players. We may have a rough time against them because this is the Champions League and we don’t know when we’ll have this opportunity again. Kiev needs the points and we have a good chance, but the footballers know that this is the last match and they’ll have to work hard just like its the first game. Even though we are not advancing, a win in Kiev will be something etched in their memories forever.”
Israeli league play:
“We can’t look up in the standings after the amount of points we’ve collected. Following the Champions League time will tell. If we can continue to pick up wins everything will work out for us, but for right now we can’t look past the upcoming Saturday.”
