Hadar Akrish 29/01/2021 20:10
Yaron Hochnaboim (Graphics: Carolina Arichman)
It seems that everything is connected this season to Hapoel Nof Hagalil, the table leader in the national league. The players show good ability on the field and there is a good atmosphere outside. The main goal of the team is clear: to ensure promotion to the Premier League after the scar left from 2019, so the team missed the illegal immigration in the last round with its previous name – Nazareth Illit. This time the club declares that they will fight until the last minute for the dream to come true.
In an interview with ONE, the coach Yaron Hochnaboim Tells about the atmosphere in the locker room, the closure that is delaying the rest of the season, that trauma from a year and a half ago that made him recalculate a route, the sacrifice as a Sabbath-keeping coach and why he is not considered a legitimate coach for Premier League teams. In addition, Hochnaboim talks about the request from Hapoel Hadera that wanted to appoint him in place of Sharon Mimar, but in the end he remained in the Galilee landscape after not receiving his release.
How do the days go in quarantine?
“We are training as usual, already waiting for the next game.”
How hard is it when the game sequence is interrupted?
“I always like to look in a positive perspective and when I look and see that there was a very big load on the game board and some of our players came to the last games exhausted, really exhausted and some injured, so for me this break is a positive thing. A break that gave us time to recover. Fresh and more ready for the rest of the games. “
After Hapoel Hadera approached you and wanted to leave, do you not think it affects your players?
“It has no effect, neither positive nor negative. I received an offer from a club in the Premier League, Hapoel Hadera. I shared with the management of Nof Hagalil on this issue, they said what they said and move on from here.”
What did they tell you?
“That they are not willing to release me under any circumstances, I could do what coaches have done in the past but that is not my style and I do not believe in putting facts and sending a letter or message that I have a Premier League team and I resign and move on, even if there is professional and financial progress. I do not believe in this way. “
How disappointed are you that they did not let you go?
“I took into account that in light of our situation in the table they would insist and so it was.”
Do you think another opportunity like this will come in the Premier League?
“First of all I hope we will be promoted to a league and then I will be a coach in the Premier League, at the moment I am focused on this issue. What interests me is that Hapoel Nof Hagalil will qualify for the Premier League and I am only focused on that.”
If you were to leave, would not you think it was a mistake to go like that in the middle of the season?
“On the contrary, I ended up not leaving while we know a lot of coaches who have done it in the past, who left the national league as soon as a Premier League offer came to them.”
Let’s go back to the Galilee landscape – two years ago the group was close to aliyah, last year it did not go a bit. This season do you think it can finally happen?
“Last season I only came at the end to help the team not get tangled up at the bottom, we saw a strong, good team and hit a foreigner bull which is a very important thing in team building, I think we emphasized all the rules I see as important in this construction process, like age balance too Between the foreign players and also between the Israelis. We created a good unity not only professionally but also in terms of the personalities of the people. The construction was not done with a budget that is considered among the highest in the league, we put all the money on first 13 players so most of our bench are players who finished youth in season Last year and two years ago. “
After your tenure last season in Ramat Hasharon, how natural was it for you to return to the Galilee landscape?
I really enjoyed Ramat Hasharon but after we secured our place in the top playoffs, there was a dispute between the managements of the two clubs and Nof Hagalil asked Ramat Hasharon me and Sharon Katz, the fitness coach, to return to the team to help it not relegate But the Galilee View Club is a very special place for me, this is the place I actually made the first break in my career in the early 2000s that opened the door to other clubs in the National League and later also in the Premier League. It is a club that did me good and I have a part in the club’s good history. This season it is to make all the dear people who want the best for the team, come to this city that we will be in the Premier League. “
There is a good staff this season, do you think we need more reinforcement to achieve the main goal?
“We are very pleased with all the players who brought us to where we are at the moment, because the season is long and everything is crowded and in light of the fact that today there are five substitutions, we need the strengthening of some players. So far we have added Eitan Wolblum to strengthen the link, Dovev Gabay to strengthen the attack Expect one more player to come, we have someone in sight but until he signs there is nothing to talk about. I estimate that at least one more player will come, so that we have as many options as possible with more experience in the rotation required in light of the situation. At the beginning of the week I believe we will close with Moti Queen”.
Most games are played on Fridays, you keep Shabbat, how does it work out?
Saturday starts from sunset and in the heart of winter time there is a month that has sunk near the final whistle, these days I have no option to travel with the vehicle at the end of the game, so I find myself walking to a hotel, apartment or B&B and of course it all depends on where I play, I spend Saturday alone In the same place. “There are places far from the stadium and it turned out that sometimes I walked for an hour to get to the apartment, it’s really close.”
The group seems to be very connected this year, what’s the magic secret?
“We play offensive football, the players really appreciate this way and connect to it, our method of play is regularly two forwards in the attacking center who actually have almost no defensive tasks other than pressing the brakes, unlike most teams running the forwards to press the back ties. I think We also had a good eye in terms of the selection of foreigners. David Aqua who brought him from the youth of Maccabi Haifa without any experience in the seniors, Pedro Patrachi who we have a few seasons with and Matthews Lima who we placed him after we went through over seventy strikers in the summer. We have a professional team. Reliable and serious, they are my full partners at every step. “
Two years ago it was a very painful moment, you missed at the last minute the promotion to the Premier League. It still sits in the head?
“I had a difficult period of three weeks from the same game at the end of which we failed to qualify for the Premier League, I took it very hard at a level I did not want to start the season, I preferred to sit at home and really recover from this case. A team I coached that had to stay in the league or a team that was nominated to move up a league last round or one before the last I did the job, two years ago I experienced such a disappointing thing for the first time and that’s why I took it so hard but after a few weeks I recovered and I no longer think about it. “I answer and I do not look back, I look forward and aim for the good and so this time as well.”
If you move up a league, do you have enough money to survive in the Premier League?
“It’s not my job to take care of the budget but from my acquaintance with Mayor Ronen Plot who takes great care of the city and took care of the amazing stadium that was renewed and also with Gil Baram who in less good days knew how to lift the team, I trust these people knew how to put a worthy team in the Premier League. Not there and we still have a lot of work and a lot of games to go through to be in this place. “
You are mostly associated with the Galilee landscape, with the National League. Where do you place Yaron Hochnaboim among the coaches in Israeli football?
“I have a resume of around a hundred games in the Premier League, after the successful season in 2010 with Hapoel Acre and with zero budget we finished in 12th place out of 16 teams that were in the league, I think my breakthrough should have come then but I had no agent and no one in the media I’m a bit missed this topic but I really appreciate everyone, there are some good coaches in the country and I think my place is among the coaches in the Premier League, among the 14 best in the country but I do not pursue it and I am not willing to do what some coaches do Will be done to be there and this is also one of the reasons I have been in the national league in recent years.The most important thing for me is not only to make a living but also to enjoy, part of the pleasure I stand in the morning and complete with myself and not be like some of the coaches who dictate to them. Get a contract in the Premier League.I am a team member and I really like to consult with the professional team or with the owner and CEO. In the end, the coach has to make the final decision, I am faithful to the education and the principles I received when I studied in the coaching course I did. “
Apart from Hadera, have you received offers over the years from the Premier League?
“Also this season, this season, I received an offer from a team in the Premier League who wanted me to change the energies in the team, but the Galilee landscape is first place for me and as I said I do not think it is a good time to leave such a team in the middle of the league.”
Yaron, this year you will be celebrating your 50th birthday. Do you have an important goal that you have not yet achieved or a team that you would like to coach?
“I am a professional with all the emotion I have for the Galilee landscape, wherever I go I will do everything to be successful, at the moment my head is only in the team and I focus on how we succeed in our mission to qualify for the Premier League. At the moment I do not see anything else in front of my eyes.”
How do you sum up the chapter before the new decade in life?
“As of this moment it can be said of me that everything I have done so far, everything is done with ten fingers. I was never assigned a team and I never had the privilege of having my dad or my brother or my uncle or someone close to me from football. Until now, where I have come from is thanks to me. “
What can we wish you?
“Health and that I will make the people closest to me happy both on and off the field.”
