After a long break following the World Cup, Maccabi returns to the grass. The Yellows will meet Hapoel Jerusalem in the match for places 7-8 in the Toto Cup (Wednesday, 20:00) and a day before this evening coach Vladimir Ivic spoke at a press conference ahead of the match at Bloomfield Stadium.
First Ivic was asked if he has a favorite in the World Cup that is happening these days and answered: “I follow the tournament, there are many good teams. Everywhere in the world football is played, the players play good football, managers do a good job. We were surprised by what happened with teams like Germany, Denmark , Belgium. It’s good for football. As for a favorite, I’m in favor of Portugal, the coach there trained me in the past, I have a good relationship with him and I wish him to win the cup.”
The coach said about the work during the training camp: “We did what we wanted, we had amazing conditions there. Weather, opponents, hotel, pitches. It was perfect. I don’t remember our preparation like this in the summer, it was very good, but now we have to show the It’s in the games.”
On his impression of the players during the period, he added: “We have 24 players, I talked about it a lot, it’s not easy to manage such a number of players in one factory. We believed we would be in Europe but it didn’t happen and we stayed with a lot of players. They work, show me their ability every day . I appreciate their work and their professionalism. It’s not easy to leave someone out of the squad, it’s not easy to leave someone on the bench, but that’s my job.”
Afterwards, the coach was asked about the team’s defensive line and answered: “This squad can play with 4 in defense. Why not? I said from the beginning that it depends on the players, the best method should be adapted to them. Most of the time I played 3-3-4 but right now I believe that there is We have players for a different method. We have two good strikers, a third striker like Dor Turgeman who shows good ability every day. He will fight with them for the spot.”
About the camp’s contribution to the players who arrived relatively late in the summer, Ivitch said: “They didn’t do the summer camp with us because they weren’t with us. I believe they did a good camp, worked hard, played in games, improved their physical fitness and the tactical aspect. We We know what club we represent and what the expectations are. We always have to be at our highest level to give the maximum for the club. We want to win every game.”
Regarding the purpose of the upcoming match against Hapoel Jerusalem, the Serbian said: “We had two warm-up games, this is the third game. We will see how their players are doing and we will choose today who will play, who will be on the bench and who will be out of the squad. We have a game on Sunday in the cup and we want to be ready “.