This Saturday, Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv will play their Matchday 11 game at Hapoel Raanana in Toto League action. The young Yellow-and-Blue enter the match with not only a three game winning streak but they have also not given up any goals during this period.
One of Maccabi’s attacking players this season is Or Dasa, who had a chance to speak to the Official Website about the upcoming match, his personal goals and also the big jump the club made this year: “You can definitely say that this has been a huge transition from playing with the Under-17 side last year. Up until last season I had only played within the Maccabi youth leagues, I wasn’t part of the Israel National Team and all of a sudden here I am part of the National Team and of course playing in the youth league and also the Champions League Youth League.
To play against your age group in Europe is something totally different and a much higher level. There’s differences on the physical side, speed and technical aspects of the game and everything is much faster. On top of that you also have pressure from the media. People watched us on TV and checked out all of the highlights. I try not to deal with any of this so it doesn’t really bother me as my sole focus is just football.”
Thoughts about this Saturday’s match and having won three in a row:
“Things are starting to come together for us. We said that once we finish playing in the Champions League, we will be a lot better. I’m happy that this is exactly what has happened and especially that we haven’t given up any goals.”
Personal goals for this season:
“Firstly, I want to continue to mature and also improve my leadership skills. Before I began this season I set a goal for myself to play as much as possible in the league. Then when we made it into Europe, I wanted to play as much as I could in Europe and I’m happy that I was able to do that. Right now I want to play an important part with the team where I can lead my teammates. I’m working a lot with Noam our psychologist and also a lot of the changes that are happening begin in practice. For example, when we have games in practice that we need to win, I try to encourage my teammates and score the winning goal.”
Summing up the winter National Team tournament:
“I was so proud. My mom saw the first match and she saw me sing Hatikva, there’s nothing better than that. The transition between the National Team and club side is a different world. I tried to get to impress the coach and I hope that he will call me up again. It’s an experience that I hope will continue into the future.”
