Maccabi Tel Aviv will face Beitar Jerusalem on Saturday at Teddy Stadium in the TASE Premier League, a second meeting between the two sides after the Jerusalem outfit won the Toto Cup final 2-0 in Netanya on Tuesday. Defender Shahar Piven spoke at the pre-match news conference about the upcoming clash.
“We’ve been here before and we will try to take the most out of this game and the entire week of preparation. We may have lost to the same team in midweek but it’s a totally clean slate and it’s completely different. In football every three or four days you come up against a new challenge and you have to take it seriously and get over what went before. Beitar are good opponents and of top quality and we will have to prove to ourselves and everybody else that we are the better team. It won’t be simple, but we will do our best.”
In regard to Maccabi’s ability, Piven said: “Our role is not to satisfy the media but to make sure we do what our coach demands of us, to make the fans happy and thereby make ourselves happy too. We are not taking any notice of what people think about us but we are concentrating on our targets. We need to improve several things so that we get better as a team. The game (goalless draw at home) against Maccabi Haifa has been forgotten as has the Toto Cup final against Beitar. We are looking towards the next game; we don’t need to think about what has been written about us in the media.”
“As a defender, I know that there battling on with will and determination is what we do all the time and we always need to bring these qualities to every game but as for the team’s attacking success and shots on target, they are things that are sometimes better and sometimes less successful. We only think about being able to be victorious more than our opponents and if we remember that at all times, I’m sure things will fall into place for us.”
