Van Overeem: "Haifa? From the beginning I said I wanted to go to Maccabi Tel Aviv"

The midfielder was interviewed for the first time after Nice.

Bitton is sure that he has broken out as "the best goalkeeper in Israel", Kanikowski knows: "There will be a crazy war for minutes in the midfield"

Raanan Baranovski

08/19/2022

Friday, August 19, 2022, 08:00

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Summary: Maccabi Tel Aviv - Nice 0:1 (Sport1)

Along with the compliments to Daniel Peretz, Stiffa Fritsa and Eyal Golsa, another player of Maccabi Tel Aviv who celebrated yesterday (Thursday) the surprising victory over Nice, was Joris Van Overeem.

The Jewish-Dutch midfielder came to Israel precisely for such Arabs, and after the difficult 0:1, he was interviewed for the first time since joining the team.

"It was a very difficult victory. The game started in a very difficult way for us, we were not able to create any attempts at attack and mainly we were concerned with surviving the game. In the second half we already grew into the game, the crowd pushed us like crazy and made us believe that it can be done", he analyzed.

On the change the team made after the halftime break: "The coach asked us to change a few things, we stood in a slightly different formation defensively. We put more pressure on their brakes and it worked well for us. You saw that it was very difficult, but in Europe anything can happen and we have to believe that we can produce Situations to score in France as well."

On his personal experience of playing in the higher stages of the European framework: "My feelings are amazing after this match because of the crowd. There is no such crowd in Holland. It gives you so much energy during the match, it's a completely different atmosphere. We received so much power from the fans, I am very Love it. You work hard all season to win the championship and get to European establishments, so it's very important for us to qualify for the group stage, it's a goal of the club and it's very important to us."

Regarding the fact that he eventually chose Maccabi Tel Aviv, even though Maccabi Haifa also tried to join him, the Dutchman said: "For me, it was very clear from the first day that I wanted to play for Maccabi Tel Aviv. I told my agent a long time ago that this is what I wanted, even before the date of the contract It was agreed. I didn't know that such and such things were written in the media, it didn't reach me in the Netherlands. The initial contact with Maccabi Tel Aviv was long before the month of January, I was on their radar for a long time. My mother is Jewish and I used to come to Tel Aviv to visit the family from her side when I was a child. I remember these fun moments, I really enjoyed going on vacations and trips to Israel as a child."

"There is no such audience in the Netherlands."

Van Overeem (photo: Bernie Ardov)

Nir Biton, who is emerging as one of the leading players in the team, also summed up the victory: "I kept saying that once we play as a team, then everyone will look better. Little by little we are connecting and looking better. We played against a very high level team, I'm glad we won. Nice This is a very good, organized team, they know what they want from themselves. They have very high-quality players all over the pitch. It was a tough game, in the first half they had several chances and luckily we have the best goalkeeper in the country behind us. We are already looking forward to next week, we hope to get A good result and to advance to the group stage."

On the great improvement in the defensive game this season and the fact that the team did not concede a goal against the star-studded Nice: "Daniel Peretz deserves a lot of compliments, he gave an amazing game and not only against Nice. It is important to have a goalkeeper in goal that we trust, who gives us all the confidence possible. Let's say that if There were no mistakes in football so there were no goals. We made mistakes that we could have paid dearly for and Daniel made some amazing saves. Keeping a clean sheet against them is a massive boost for next week and I really hope we get the job done. It won't be easy. In the end it's one game and we have to get there With faith that we can do it."

About the match against Benny Reina on Sunday, Beaton said: "I think if you ask any soccer player what he prefers, a week of training or two games a week, everyone will say two games a week. That's what we're in this profession for, that's what we're professional athletes for. We'll come on Sunday ,

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Full of compliments to his goalkeeper.

Nir Biton (Photo: Danny Maron)

Gabi Kanikovski, who looked great from the start of the season, commented on the madness of the games in the European framework and concluded: "To be honest, playing in front of a full stadium with such an atmosphere is a dream come true. It's not obvious and I'm happy to be a part of it."

On the halftime briefing and the change in ability in the second half: "We came with a certain plan, the coach prepared us really well. Obviously, they have players worth tens of millions and there are differences in levels, but you have to know how to play against them and we did it excellently. We will go there and play the same, the result is fluid But people didn't believe it before and now they say, 'What kind of Maccabi will this year be?'

I'm proud of all the players, even those who came up and gave us five minutes because it's not obvious."

On the squad full of midfielders and the fact that everyone wants to play: "There will be a crazy battle this season for a spot in the midfield, every player deserves to start, but in the end it's a coach's decision and I think for To take a championship you need a deep squad and you need all of them."

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• Joris van Overeem