Head Coach Peter Bosz and central defender Carlos Garcia were present for the pre-match press conference prior to the Yellow-and-Blue’s Israel State Cup semifinal match versus Bnei Sakhnin in Haifa at Sammy Ofer Stadium. The Dutch coach spoke about the past few matches and how he wants to see his club play:

“I have only one experience playing Bnei Sakhnin and that match was tough with 5 men on defense and they played a compact game. I was happy we won but I’m sure the game on Thursday will be difficult but we will work hard in order to get a good result.”

Sakhnin has given up a lot of goals recently:

“I always try to look at my own team. If they have conceded a lot of goals over the past few games that doesn’t mean that they will against us. We have to concentrate and focus on our own players. We have to create more chances and get more goals.”

Differences between the match against Haifa and Beitar:

“I agree that there was a big difference between the game we played against Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabi Haifa. It was about how we did it. Our tempo was much higher against Beitar. We were more creative and we have to look at ourselves and focus on our own game. The way we played against Beitar is how we have to play and how we want to play.”

The opportunity to win two prizes:

“I’m excited. It’s all about winning and I’m excited to have a chance to win. We have two competitions that we can win the Cup and the League, but we haven’t won anything yet. We will have to work hard as we have a chance for both of these two prizes.”

Final words:

“We will play our own game and they know that we will attack so we will see in two days.”

Carlos Garcia also discussed the upcoming match:

On not being available for last year’s final:

“It was tough that I was injured and I couldn’t help the team in the final. I was happy we won the Cup but even if I don’t play and we win the Cup, I will be happy as well. The team is most important and we are going to try and win the cup again.”