The 2017/18 Israeli domestic season gets underway as Maccabi Tel Aviv hosts Bnei Yehuda on Matchday One of the Toto Cup. The Yellow & Blue come into the contest after a 1:0 win over Panionios and with five official matches under their belts. One of the players who had a hand in the last few victories was defender Yuval Shpungin:

“It’s a lot of fun to begin another season. We’re excited and hopeful that we will reach our expectations this year. We are going to play hard in all of the various competitions this season.”

Jordi Cruyff talks about the upcoming Toto Cup match:

The European campaign is underway and five official matches have already been played. Does this give you an advantage over the other teams in the Israeli league:
“It certainly does. With each match we get into better and better game shape so it’s definitely an advantage for us. The Toto Cup contests will also help us out when we begin the league.”

Improving match to match:
“We are improving but there is plenty of work ahead. We are training hard and we know that there is a lot of things that need to be worked on. We are doing all of that during the training sessions and of course during the matches which have been wins so far and that’s very important.”

Shpungin has become an integral part of Jordi Cruyff’s Starting XI this past month due to Eli Dasa’s injury and is currently rehabilitating:
“I always give 100% and give it my all every match that I play in. There’s no question that our training sessions are at a very high level and the players that don’t get many chances to play have to be ready to go when they do get an opportunity.”

Kjartansson defeats Panionios:

About Bnei Yehuda, the same club that Maccabi faced in the State Cup Final:
“There’s no question that this brings back some pretty bitter memories, but what can you do. We have to learn from the past and make sure we are prepared.”

On the tournament that sometimes clogs up the August calendar:
“This is a good competition that gives players who haven’t had many match minutes the chance to get them and get into game shape at this point of the season. We can’t discount any tournament that we are in. A busy month of August? That’s why we have a very big squad and everyone will get match time.”