A huge sigh of relief was heard this evening (Saturday) in Bloomfield after the winning goal of George Jovanovic, who gave Maccabi Tel Aviv a super-dramatic 0:1 over Hapoel Haifa in the 98th minute. The Yellows narrowed the gap from Maccabi Haifa to a point and put the pressure on the leaders who will host Hapoel Tel Aviv tomorrow, before the end of the first round in the Premier League and the start of the World Cup break.
Hapoel Haifa was close to getting a precious point, but recorded a second loss in a row and only one goal since the appointment of Roni Levy. The team is missing its pioneer Alon Turgeman and Shuval Gozlan due to injuries, who is suffering from a torn ligament in the back and is expected to be out for about three months.
Vladan Ivic He concluded: “What can I say? To say again that we didn’t play well? There is no team in the league that creates as many chances as we do. I think in the last 2-3 games we reached 50 chances… I have nothing to say about the players. They work hard, they create , they prepare themselves for victories. Sometimes there is bad luck, sometimes there are misses, that’s normal. I’m very pleased with them, with their mentality and their desire. Our players have character.”
The Maccabi Tel Aviv coach continued: “We missed points for no good reason, but that’s part of the game. Believe me, I’m satisfied when we get opportunities. Today’s game could have ended 0:0. I’m satisfied because a game like today can give us strength, I Satisfied with our fans. I think they enjoyed themselves today because we got into many situations. You can’t win every game 0:5 or 0:6 like we did at the beginning of the season. After two unsuccessful years and building a team with new players is not easy. There is a lot to improve and it is not Related to the result. We want to improve, each of the players wants to progress.”
Roni Levythe coach of Hapoel Haifa: “We went into a very bad game. Maybe because we rested one day less, after the players gave a good job against Maccabi Haifa. As the game progressed, we got better. Losing in a minute like that is the cruelest, but the players gave everything.”
Levy continued: “We had a lot of very bad decisions in the front. We got into situations when the opponent was exposed, situations we wanted in the depth of the defense, but the last pass, the decision-making, were less good. I believe that as time goes by, this matter will improve.”
About the break, Hapoel Haifa’s coach said: “We will work a lot on the attacking game, we don’t get enough opportunities, we don’t score enough. We will have to improve a lot in this aspect.”
First and second matches in the Premier League:
Sunday, 19:00: Maccabi Bnei Rayna – Hapoel Jerusalem
Sunday, 20:00: Kiryat Shmona City – Hapoel Beer Sheva (Sport4)
Sunday, 20:30: Maccabi Haifa – Hapoel Tel Aviv
Monday, 20:15: Beitar Jerusalem – Bnei Sakhnin (Sport 1)