Maccabi Tel Aviv resume the ONE ZERO League Playoff with a tough trip away to Hapoel Jerusalem on MD28. On the even of the match, Dor Peretz as well as first team members participated in the food packaging at Bloomfield stadium as part of the ‘Good deeds in Yellow’ initiative by the Maccabi Tel Aviv Foundation and ‘Ahim Lasemel’.
Peretz, said: “It is a superb initiative of the club, the foundation which is testimony to how important there is for work in the community. I am just delighted with the fact that so many people and fans join this initiative. There is a good bond between the club and the fans as I spoke more than once on the fact that the fans ultimately express their feelings at what they see on the pitch, we as players do our best on the pitch, and those in charge of us does their best to guide us and those above him try ensure that the team and the club reach as far as possible. Sometimes it doesn’t match what the fans expect which in my opinion is also ok. They voice their opinion according to how they see fit, but at the same time I was very happy to see around a 1000 fans turn up here today to take part in this amazing initiative.”
The 27-year-old who scored Israel’s only goal of the international break, with a strike against Kosovo, which was only enough for one point out of a possible six, added: “It always feels good to return to the club the team and your teammates, and fun to enjoy the tempo back in training. To hear the coach has selection headache means is always positive as it means that players are in good form and are looking good – which now leaves us with the task of showing that on the pitch tomorrow.”
Relating to the team’s ambitions for the remainder of the campaign, Peretz said: “We are only focusing on the next match ahead, and as much as it might sound a cliche, if we just win the next game and the next game we could achieve a bigger target. The only thing in my head right now is to show how much quality there is in this team. Scoring goals are always important is it gives you confidence as it feels that suddenly the goal is bigger and wider. Before you score that goal everything seems more difficult but after that goal, other goals always seem to follow as I hope it will be no different now. I had two goals disallowed this season for offsides, and I just wish this goal at the national team will help me score more goals at club level.”
Peretz is confident the victory recorded against Maccabi Netanya before the international break could help the team ahead of the rest of the Playoff: “I don’t think I changed too many things in my game against Netanya but were just very prepared, and as soon as everyone looked good it helped my game as well. I looked good and so did the rest of the team so we must just replicate that against Hapoel Jerusalem – to be aggressive to show desire and try win this match right from the off.”
Peretz, remained adamant that Maccabi hasn’t had the final word this season as he summed up: “I am always optimistic and believe in my and our ability. But it all must start with three points on Saturday against Hapoel Jerusalem and continue with the next three points we will win after that – this is the only way we could progress.”
With Maccabi 10 points adrift of top spot, Peretz insisted: “Calculations? We are not in this place. The gap is big but if we win three points on Saturday we could move on to the next step. We are responsible for where we are now and the points we had dropped. I don’t think that none of our opponents played great football this season and we can go back and look at all the matches between us this season. This could be proof that we might have been too complacent at times which led to us dropping points. But if we come determined and show what we are capable of – I am sure that the quality we have here is enough.”
