Masai Degu at the press conference of Maccabi Haifa/Gal Lafler, Sport1 messenger for Florence
Maccabi Haifa dreams of a surprise against Fiorentina, and exudes full confidence ahead of the return match tonight (Thursday, 19:45, Sport1) at the Artemio Franki Stadium in Florence.
"We come to every game with full faith. In one game anything can happen, we will work hard and I believe it will be good," said coach Masai Dego.
"Fiorentina is a tough opponent, they change three-four players in the lineup every game, even though the principles of their game are very clear. They also made some changes against Roma. Their coach is very interesting, he has a lot of solutions. We will have to work very hard to get a good result."
The team is also busy with the injuries of Sean Goldberg and Lior Rafalov.
"Whoever is here with us means that he is eligible. We will decide before the game whether Goldberg and Rafalov will play. Shawn and Lior practiced yesterday, with Lior it's a matter of throwing before every game, he really makes a huge effort to play every game until the break. Jaber, holiday J. and Dean David are supposed to join us after the national team break. In any case, I trust all the players in our squad," the coach updated.
Will he play with a shot again?
Rafalov/Maor Alxalsi
The team is trying to instill confidence in Sharif Kiif, who is in a slightly less good time and in the last two games has put six balls out of the net, including an unnecessary goal he conceded in the loss to Bnei Rayna.
"You have to remember the big games for him, he gave us a lot of air and earned us a lot of points throughout the season," Dego said.
"He's a young kid and at his age a lot of players make mistakes. It's okay, we're with him and we trust him. I'm sure he'll make a good game."
"It happens to everyone, in football there are sometimes less good times for everyone, but he really has a great season, he brought us here and played great games," praised Sean Goldberg.
"Both in the Europa League and against Gent, he is always there when we need him. We trust him a thousand percent."
About his injury, Goldberg said: "I got hit in the ankle in a place where I've already suffered from an injury before and I was out for a month and a half because of it. Now it's less serious, you can say it's behind me and I'm preparing for the game as usual. I feel better, I feel ready."
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