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Maccabi Tel Aviv: "There were weights on our feet, failures were in the head"
The Yellows breathed a sigh of relief after the victory over Riga and told of the difficulty the results had created in previous years. Donis asked the association to postpone the Toto Cup final, compliments to Laney, Noble on the way to a decision on his future
Tags- Maccabi Tel Aviv in football
- Georgius Donis
Yaniv Tuchman
Thursday, 20 August 2020, 06:44- Share on Facebook
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A very big sigh of relief at Maccabi Tel Aviv after last night's victory (Wednesday, 0: 2) over PK. Riga in the Champions League qualifiers. Players in the team admitted last night that the failure in the last two years to qualify for the home stage in Europe at one of the two factories - and especially the losses last summer to Cluj and Sudova - sat strong in the head and created considerable pressure.
"There were weights on the legs," one of the team's players admitted last night. "It's not easy being in a game where you only have something to lose, especially since a year ago we failed in this round. Blackman's second penalty was everyone's happiness and release of pressure. All the tension we held for a year dissipated."
More on Walla! NEWS
Georgios Donis: "We should have finished the game earlier"
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- Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Riga 0: 2 and advanced to the second round of the Champions League qualifiers
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After crossing the first hurdle safely, the Maccabi Tel Aviv players will have a chance to take revenge on the Lithuanians when they meet Sudova away on Wednesday in the next round of the qualifiers. Maccabi Tel Aviv will take off for the game the day before and its coach Georgios Donis last night turned to the Football Association and the league director and asked: "Help us improve the chances of qualifying for Israeli football. I ask for this not only for Maccabi Tel Aviv, but for all Israeli teams playing in the qualifiers "I ask the association to postpone the game in Sakhnin so that I can better prepare the team for the next stage in Europe. This is my request and if they do not accept it, we will go to Sakhnin and come up with a mixed and partial team so we can get on well with Sudova."
Donis did not go into health matters and the request that Maccabi Tel Aviv submitted to the director to postpone the Toto Cup final due to the presence of two sick players in Bnei Sakhnin, but spoke candidly and openly about seeking the association's assistance in the postponement in order to reach Lithuania much better.
Two elements interrupted Donis last night in the game against Riga. The first is the multiplicity of misses and the second is the fatigue of the players in the last 20 minutes. Donis has identified that there is unrest in front of goal and that some of the players are physically unfit and he intends to work on both. The coach complimented Dan Bitton's integration in the second half and Nick Blackman's composure in front of goal on both penalties.
Maccabi praised Sharan Yeni, who played a quiet and good game on the standard of the foreign brake that has been missing since Jair Amador left, as well as another veteran, Avi Rikan, who squeezed the first penalty in minutes that Maccabi Tel Aviv already felt it would not be able to subdue the Latvian goalkeeper. Ahead of the game against Sudova, Yonatan Cohen will return to the squad after running a suspension last night for the red card he received against Sudova a year ago.
In another matter, Noble Omar is set to decide today where he wants to play next season out of three options open to him, including the Cypriot Apoel Nicosia, in the media playing Ben Shehar.
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