Vladimir Ivic, the Yellow & Blue Head Coach is readying his side for a Matchday 3 Israel Premier League contest against Hapoel Raanana on Saturday (18:00) at the Netanya Stadium and began by addressing the situation with the players who were with the Israel National Team:
“We had 5-6 players with the National Team and it’s good that they were called up and played. I wish that even more players were with the National Team for the two matches. The second was a friendly and five of our players played at least 70 minutes while three played the full 90 minutes. I only wish the best results for the Israel National Team.”
More on the National Team:
“Having so many players with the National Team is normal for Maccabi and we worked with those who stayed here to get them into good shape. There are other players like Omer Atzily who could be a part of the National Team.”
The National Team giving up 3 goals in the friendly:
“This is a totally different system and another coach who is also a new coach. I hope that they will have good results in the upcoming matches and will advance past this round.”
Potential new recruits:
“We are working hard to bring a striker and we are in negotiations with some but we haven’t been able to come to an agreement yet. We will see over the next few days.”
About the Israeli footballer not being up to par with the rest of the world:
“I don’t think so and I believe that Israel has many players that play abroad. I’m sure there are other players in Israel that can also play in other leagues abroad as well.”
Saturday’s upcoming match against Hapoel Raanana:
“It’s one of the most important games. This kind of game can be dangerous for teams like us who have big goals and want to take the championship. We have to concentrate and we have worked with the players who stayed in Israel the past couple of weeks. Over the next few two days we can work the players who came back from international duty.”
Injury status of Jair Amador and Enric Saborit:
“Jair Amador will be back and is ok and last week he took part in normal training sessions. We had some examinations done on Enric Saborit as he took part in some very intense training sessions. We have to see if he will be ready for this game and if not then he will be fine for the next one.”
The return of Ofir Davidzada:
“We are happy that he is with us and he is a quality player. He was here last year and I am familiar with him. I’m content that we now have two players for each position. He is ready and can be one of the players in the Starting XI.”
