Idan Nachmias started the match against Petah Tikva at the heart of Maccabi’s defence, but the 26-year-old admitted after the match that his heart was broken as he broke into tears following his close friend who was killed in Gaza. “It was an extremely emotional match for me” Nachmias said with tears in his eyes, “A very close friend of mine, Shai Termin, was killed in Gaza two days ago. I was wearing a black wrist band in his memory and was planning to score a goal and celebrate in his memory but sadly that didn’t happen. He was such a loved person. I missed his funeral today inorder to play this game. I would like to extend my condolences to the family and all the close friends in these difficult past couple of days.”
Nachnias admitted that preparing for the match in the wake of his personal tragedy wasn’t easy: “Yesterday in training tbe coach and his staff asked me if I feel that I could play” Nachmias revealed, “I worked so hard over the past year, I came back from a long injury and then had another niggling injury so I told them that I would be able to put things aside. When you cross the white line one has to know how to put personal issues aside which is exactly what I did in training yesterday and today as well. I tried to detach myself but when Hatikva was played before the game all the emotions were just overwhelming. As soon as the game kicked off, I only focused on the match.”
On Maccabi’s seconds half comeback, Nachmias added: “The two halves were totally different as we all had a big test of character. At halftime the coach woke us up and you saw how we emerged for the second half. The equaliser was scored very quickly and from there our energy just grew and grew. We showed plenty of character and we are delighted for it.”
