The opening that Eden Hershkovitz has been waiting for so long has arrived. The 23-year-old young striker – who scored 12 goals last season and scored 7 in the Hapoel Ramat Gan uniform in the national league, returned to Hapoel Tel Aviv last summer just so as not to be counted on Nir Klinger’s rotation and moved to Cyprus – allowed his debut goal in the 2020/21 season. His in 11 of Cremiotisa, who is fighting for her life on the neighboring island, and erupted happily. and not only.
It was his third appearance since joining last January. Hershkovitz, who moved to the Cypriot team, is collaborating there with Yarin Peretz, another player in whom Hapoel Tel Aviv has invested but did not give him the chance to prove himself. About what happened in the Khodorov complex, the connection to the club, the disappointment and also his plans for the future.
“What I experienced at that moment, I can not describe so in words,” he said Hershkovitz. “In the end, a striker goal is like striving for perfection, the thing you work for so hard. I’m playing football since I was 4 years old, I’m been playing for almost 20 years in a row, I work day, day, hour, for that second, this moment.
“With everything I went through this season, and I did not conquer I think eight months from the end of last season, and with all the expectation I had from this season and I did not play almost in the first half of the season, and that I came to a new place and gave me a chance to start in the squad. “Emotion. From the purest place there is, net because I love the game so much.”
Premiere goal in the first game in 11 is excellent, what is your goal until the end of the season?
“I came here to advance professionally. My personal goal is to advance, I have a crazy experience here. To be in a room where you do not understand the language, to try to talk to people through eyes, there are those who do not speak English. It is an amazing experience, I learn from it, every day The first time I left Israel, I wanted to feel what it was like abroad. I felt that I could have an amazing opportunity to play in an excellent league, no less good than the Israeli, where they want me and give me the credit, they will give me their backs even if I do not succeed a little, they will always give me this push. ”
“The team goal is first and foremost to keep the team in the league. We are in last place and there are four relegations, it’s kind of an impossible task, but there are 14 games left. I really hope we do it, I know I will give everything to do it, I know “That my teammates will give everything so we can do it. I know our new coach will do everything to make it happen.”
At Hapoel Tel Aviv, you expected better treatment. There, you are new and receive treatment you did not expect.
“I get full of positive feedback. Really love me here. My game, the way I behave, what I contribute to the locker room. I feel this appreciation from the players, that we laugh with each other all day and I barely know them for two or three weeks, with “The coach who comes and talks to me, also the professional manager and media man, and what a kid who comes in and suddenly says ‘Eden, Eden’ and I myself like a little kid excited that some Cypriot kid knows who I am. I really feel good here, I really enjoy it.”
If you stop for a moment to think, you are now in underground struggles in Cyprus and not in Israel with Hapoel. What is different about these difficult situations?
“In Hapoel it’s different. There’s a lot of pressure. It’s a club that is huge and there is also a lot of expectation from the crowd, the owners, the coach and the players. Besides Israel being a country of pressure, here it’s a little calmer. We are in last place, “We know how to play football, we know we came to work, but guys, we came to have fun and we know what we’re doing. That’s the difference.”
You have not moved away from Israel, but it is abroad for everything. Many say that beyond a league like this it is a kind of exit from Europe with an asterisk, what do you think about that?
“The level here really does not fall short of the Premier League. There are excellent teams here, good conditions, players who are worth a lot of money. Take this league seriously, there are a lot of people for whom this is very, very important and that is why a lot of money is invested here.”
From the impression you’ve got so far, would you like to continue there? Stay in Europe in the summer, or return to the Premier League?
“At the end of the season Hapoel has an option on me. And if they do not exercise the option, I am released. My dream is as far away as possible. The dream is England. If it has to happen through the country, then it will happen and if through abroad – then abroad. We should be in the place, we are me, the family and my agent, Idan Ben Abu. He and Shai Atias are always with me, for better or worse, an integral part of my success. We should be in a place that will give me back, let me play, appreciate me, build on me, “He also wants to profit from me. Then we will all benefit from this situation.”
“If I’m good it’s going to happen. I believe in myself and there’s no reason it’s not going to happen. It’s important for me to say that without the support of my relatives in Israel, and my girlfriend that I drive crazy all day to take care of things in Israel and she’s Can do it. “
What is life really like there? In this story it seems you have the ultimate partner, Yarin Peretz never stops cooking.
“The atmosphere here is amazing. Even though until now it was closed and only now the places are opening, there is an atmosphere of really no pressure and fun, do what you are good at and if you want to succeed we will support you. And I also have Yarin Peretz here who helped me in acclimatization. Today with each other, he prepares me to eat. I have never seen anything like it. ”
“I sit, the person asks’ Do you want to eat? ‘, I answer’ No ‘, he says to me’ No, no, I made it ‘. Sitting eating. I tell him’ Let’s sit for a moment and watch TV bro ‘, he tells me’ No “No, no I have to make something.” He has to move and make things all the time, I love him, he’s a lifelong friend. “
What was it like to meet Dor Micha and win with him in that game? Last summer “probably” that you did not think she would play against him in Cyprus in February.
“It was really cool to meet him. My debut at Hapoel Tel Aviv was in a derby in Bloomfield and even then I played against him. Eran Zehavi played, I got a yellow, that’s for sure (indeed yes, in August 2015, Maccabi Tel Aviv won 1: 3). At the beginning of the game we didn’t get to talk so much, because each team is in its half and not shaking hands. I met Assaf Tzur in the half ”.
“After my goal I said to Micha: ‘Well at least you will not be alone in the title in ONE now’. Yarin has a good relationship with Dor and Ben Shehar, I did not get to talk to them because there was a closure. “So I could not imagine this situation like that.”
“I did not get chances, I did not play my role, from Klinger I felt a lot of pressure”
“It consists of what I have with Hapoel,” Hershkovitz began with the Reds. “I grew up in this place, I won a trophy in youth, a first appearance in seniors, I was loaned from them for two years, that every day what pushed me to continue is my desire to prove to them that I deserve to be in this place, to be part of this huge club. Think it’s possible to hide it.Everyone close to me knows how much I’ve been waiting for it.An opportunity I’ve been waiting for since I was a kid.
“Things did not work out as I planned, but in the end, in the end I’m glad that’s what happened because today I’m in a good place. I’m enjoying and having fun. For the better, I like to learn from everything. “
‘Did not work out as planned’, to say the least.
“I always love Hapoel, I’m a Hapoel fan from a young age, I used to go to games at Gate 5 with Dad. I have a lot of Hapoel fans friends, I’m connected to the crowd at insane levels. My dream is to put a goal in Bloomfield, run to the crowd and rip my shirt off. “Five minutes not to leave me. It’s my dream, to scream at them and scream back at me. Where I will be, I will need someone to support me and give me my back, every player.”
“Take Albero Murata as an example, he is a star. He was at Chelsea, did not get a back when he should, was not good and did not give output, also at Atletico, suddenly returned to Juventus and he looked great. You can say that about a lot of players. We owe it to football. The push, the person who will believe in us, alone to succeed is difficult to impossible. “
How did you feel when you left?
“I’m lying if I tell you I’m not disappointed. I played 300 minutes in total. But okay, I do not take it personally, every coach is allowed to see things differently. My only disappointment is that I did not get enough chances. And even in those 300 minutes “I did not play in my original role, which is a striker, and this is the role with which I scored 12 goals and cooked 7 in the national league last season and thanks to the same role, Hapoel wanted me back.”
What did you think to yourself when you asked again and again why you are not actually playing?
“Why didn’t I get a chance? Every coach has the players he holds more and holds less of them. I try not to think about it and not deal with it too much. Every fall like that gives me a drive to work harder. He did not let me play – I will leave “Run 10 kilometers and bounce a ball 1,000 times. He did not let me train – I will do personal technique training, I will come before the next training, and after them. Shout at me, get down on me – I will compete, it’s football, it’s our job.”
I guess you had conversations with the professional staff, what did they tell you when you asked for clarification about your status?
“I personally did not get too much to talk to Moshe Sinai, maybe once or twice, throughout our time together. From Nir Klinger I felt a lot of pressure, a lot of pressure from him from the audience, the owner, the media and everyone expects and expects and in the end it does not go. Mostly stress.”
From what you see in the last few games, after the strengthening and in relation to the team you left, will Hapoel remain in the league in your opinion?
“I have no doubt the team will stay in the league. As it seems right now the reinforcement they have done is helping them. They look good and I follow them every game, I can not put my finger on one specific problem. It did not go away from such a snowball no matter what we do. “Not going. There is not a single person in this club who did not want to succeed, individually and as a team.”
Do you think that you could possibly change the situation and join the team in the second half of the season, to progress in Hapoel instead of going to Cyprus?
“No. I could not continue my professional process at Hapoel because in the end they did not give me the back, the coach did not hold me back and preferred to give credit to other players over me, and that is fine and it is his. But the process I am going through now I could not continue there. “I don’t like messing around in the past. All I think about is the next workout. How I do my best and how I get better day by day, how to succeed in something I love so much.”
