The first men’s State Cup semifinal between Hapoel Beer Sheva against Hapoel Jerusalem is set to take place on Thursday (20:00 IDT / 13:00 EDT), with the teams traveling to Tel Aviv where both the semifinal and the final will take place in 2024.

Beer Sheva has made it to the final four of the competition for the first time in its history, after defeating Bnei Herzliya in the preliminary round 94-90 and Hapoel Holon in the quarterfinal 88-83 – both wins away from home. Jerusalem’s path to the semifinal came through home victories over Hapoel Galil Elion in the preliminary round 89-69 and Hapoel Tel Aviv in the quarterfinal 84-79.

While both teams have made their way to the semifinal showdown and the game will start on a level playing field at 0-0, the teams are far from close in terms of what they have shown in the Winner League this season – while Jerusalem sits in 4th place in the standings (two games ahead of 5th-placed Holon) after back-to-back victories in the Bayit Elion (round robin of the top-6 teams after each team has placed each other twice), Beer Sheva lost their first game of the Bayit Tachton (round robin of teams 7-13 after each team has played each other twice) and sit in last place in risk of relegation, one game behind Galil Elion and Hapoel Eilat.

“How do you make the switch from the League to the knockout [in the State Cup],” Beer Sheva coach Oren Aharoni pondered yesterday. “We didn’t have much time to prepare, like Jerusalem, but we will prepare, both professionally and mentally. It’s an exciting and different competition, certainly when it’s the first time for the club [in the State Cup semifinals]. We will make the adjustments, both professionally and mentally, in order to come tomorrow and perform in the best way we can.”

“The goal is to come and concentrate on performance on the court and not let the noise to distract us,” Jerusalem assistant coach Yonatan Alon said. “The club is experienced in these positions and we love this pressure and this position to win titles. It’s fun for us.

“There is a lot of excitement. In the end, it’s another game at the professional level for us. The fans are crazy about this game and our entire team is busy with this occasion. We have a few trophies and we hope we can bring this one now as well.”

Veteran Israelis, Beer Sheva’s Joaquin Shuchman and Jerusalem’s Yovel Zoosman, also fronted the media before the game.

“Every player and every team has downs, we had a lot with everything that’s happened and I think we’ve found ourselves again,” Zoosman said of the team’s recent good-form. “We’re playing better and the addition of Noam Dovrat [returning from injury] and Alex Tyus [recently signing with the team] is very helpful, hopefully we can show it in the semifinals.”

“It’s very exciting to be here,” Shuchman said. “This is the first time in my career that I’m in the semifinals. We have a coaching staff that have taken this title [with Aharoni winning at the helm of Bnei Herzliyah in 2022] and I’m sure that they will prepare us in the best possible way, I’ll give it my all. It’s exciting for the club. We ‘ve proved in this competition that we know how to create for such moments and get big wins, I hope that tomorrow everything will work out for us.”

Each player also said what he though was the key to his team winning the game.

“For me, the start of the game is very critical,” Shuchman said. “We need to open strongly and send a message. We need to control the pace as much as possible and not let them develop any momentum. We need to try to come into the last quarter as close as possible in the hope of taking the game.”

“We have to focus on ourselves,” Zoosman said. “We know that Beer Sheva is a good team. Their position in the League does not reflect what they can do, I think they are better than that. It’s is a team that fights, is energetic and with a lot of emotions. The best approach is for us to focus on ourselves, come aggressively and maintain our focus for 40 minutes.”

The second semifinal between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ironi Kiryat Ata will take place at Yad Eliyahu on Friday (14:00 IDT / 7:00 EDT), with the final scheduled to take place next Thursday at Yad Eliyahu.