A turnaround at the top. Maccabi Haifa finished the regular season in first place after beating Maccabi Netanya 0: 2 tonight (Saturday) by Sami Ofer from goals by Raz Meir and Nikita Rokavica. On the other hand, Raymond Atfeld’s team missed the ticket to the top playoff at the last minute and will have to face the bottom teams until the end of the season.
“We finished the regular season well, facing a team that fought for its life,” he concluded Barak Bachar. “Not in a big game, but it was important. There is time to rest, players go to the team, we need this break. BS? “Glad they reached the top playoffs, know the guys there and there will be an interesting playoffs no matter what.”
The coach tried to analyze the game himself: “We controlled 6 minutes, after our goal they took over and played football at a high level and we did not find solutions. We had to change method, glad the change helped and we won the second. Too bad they (Netanya) are not in the top playoff “The replacement of Rodriguez? We felt that Netanya was in control, we had to make a change otherwise we would have suffered equality.”
The losing coach, Raymond Atfeld, Said: “What we presented on the field … Haifa told me that what they saw of us today was unbelievable. In a difficult situation against a team like Haifa we tried to produce, we had situations. I do not think any team reached the number of situations we got here.”
Raz Meir, Occupying one of the goals, said: “Happy for the goal that was important to me in front of a great team that pressed high. Happy for the 3 points. I do my job as a right defender, give everything on the field, sometimes I do well and sometimes less. “To continue in Haifa? I’m currently here and of course I want to continue here, is there anyone who is not?”
Almog Cohen Tried to look at the positives: “All season we were in 5-6 places and today I think this is the first time we are not in the top six. I do not know why, maybe lack of experience in attack. We only know how to play open ball propulsion “Congratulations to those who built the team, we created expectations. We have left to play like this and make our audience happy.”