Everything is ready for tonight’s Match of the Year. Tel Aviv versus Beer Sheva, Maccabi against Hapoel, Yellow-and-Blue take on the Reds at Bloomfield. Dor Micha, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s attacking midfielder spoke to the Official Maccabi Tel Aviv Podcast, Maccabi-Cast about this evening’s big clash, what we can all expect and the support he received from the fans in Saturday: “I’ve been part of Maccabi for many years and I can tell you that I have never seen anything like this is my life not even when we won the championship. It really gave us a tremendous boost.”
On the atmosphere surrounding the club over the past week:
“It’s gotten us to come together as a group. I don’t want to talk about who is for us and who is against us. We have one goal and we will do anything and everything for us to reach that goal for us and for the fans. There’s no question that everything comes down to this match. This is do or die and we have to win. We are in good shape and we’re playing at home. Everybody knows how important Bloomfield is for us.”
These are the critical moments of the year:
“It hasn’t been a regular week but I can tell you from experience that these types of challenges always bring out the best of us. Over the past few years we have had money time moments and it always brings out the best in us and I’m sure that is what will happen now.”
His relationship with the former coaches:
“My relationship with the various coaches never got off to a great start, but with Peter it has been a totally different story. He believed in me from the beginning and it’s continued to this day. I believe that I’ve started in every match since he’s been in charge and he’s the first coach who gave me the confidence from the start which is something that hasn’t happened to me in the past. Perhaps his attacking style and the fact that he enjoys creativity has helped me. Other coaches may have been scared about my size but at the end of the day I ended in good relations with every one of them and they liked me.”
The criticism that Tal Ben Chaim received over the last few weeks:
“I agree with Tal because he always comes away with the stigma of being the provocateur. If it was someone else the reaching would never be as it is. We stand behind him 100% and we all would have done the same exact thing. These are our instructions are from the coaching staff. He’s a great guy even though he has a short fuse. During training we also have to calm him down a bit as he gets heated up very easily and quickly, but that’s also how he calms down as well. He’s one of my best friends.”
About the psychological warfare:
“We as players don’t get into the whole psychological warfare bit. We know what we are worth and what we can do on the pitch. Last match against Beer Sheva we played well and it definitely gives us an air of confidence coming into this evening’s match.”
His message to the fans:
“We need our fans to be with us as strong as they can be just as they have been in the past. They are always with us and I believe they will be with us also tonight.”
