Jordi Cruyff, the Yellow & Blue Head Coach summed up his team’s 2:0 win over Maccabi Netanya on Matchday 33 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Ha’Al Championship Playoffs and began by looking at almost qualifying for a European spot:
“We haven’t wrapped it up yet mathematically and we can’t believe anything yet as we saw last week. We also thought we had it but didn’t take it. It’s a good step in the right direction for sure. We scored the first goal and whoever would have scored first would have had a good chance to win. In the end it was us and based on the second half it was deserved, we were disciplined on defense and a put in a good performance.
Playing to their potential:
“When you are so many points behind the number 1 it shows potential sometimes but it’s not enough. It may be something to analyze at the end of the month and hopefully the club will make the right decisions and correct what we haven’t done well this year. I do believe that the potential is here but there are some things missing.”
The penalty taker:
“We agreed after our penalty saga this year that we don’t have a fixed penalty taker. I do think that Atzily had confidence and was shooting good and for me he was the one that should have taken it. On the other hand it’s a game for mature players and not children so if there is a player that feels good and shoots good then I’m ok with it. As a player you feel best as to what is happening on the field and at the end the result was that we don’t have to make any issue as we didn’t miss.”
Playing at Beer Sheva on Saturday night:
“Last season was painful. To lose the league in your face is extra painful for sure. In the end the one who wins the league is the one who deserved it and you have to be a sportsman to be able to say these things. But we still have something to achieve and we want to be the first team to win there. We want to guarantee our European qualification and we want to even go for the second position. One thing is for sure, we will give a big battle over there.”
