Vladimir Ivic, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach addressed the media at the State Cup semifinal press conference ahead of Wednesday night’s contest (20:45) against Bnei Yehuda at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem:
“I want to compliment Bnei Yehuda who are in the Championship playoffs and now we are facing them in the semifinals. They gave us a very difficult time last game even though we won 2:1. The State Cup is one of our goals from the start of the season. Following our celebrations with the fans we had to begin preparing for the game which will be tough. We have to give 100% in order to win and go to the final.”
Desire to win:
“We all want to win the title. The chances are 50/50 and we will have to fight to achieve this goal.”
Players injury status:
“All of my players are important for me and we have to see who will be able to play and win the game. We will have to see who is 100% and they will play just as we began the season this way, we will end it this way as well.”
Professional players:
“We played the same team and we won the first and lost the second. You can’t celebrate a lot in football. It goes game by game. The next game is 3 days later and we have to prepare. It was an emotional moment but that is why I asked the players to just celebrate at the stadium with the fans because now isn’t the moment. They are professional players and they have shown this to me all season and they work hard. The State Cup is a very important goal and the players will be ready to go.”
Fighting for a place in the Starting XI:
“Chico was out in the last league game with a problem. We hope he will be back soon and the medical staff is working with him. Piven and Jair know that I follow them every day at training. It depends who the team is and Jair played well, but we will have to see what will be for the next game. They all know that they have to fight for a position in the Starting XI.”
