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Kenny Miller – Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nKenny Miller, who captured the State Cup over the same Hapoel Beer Sheva less than two months ago is back in the Maccabi saddle as he along with the club\u2019s new sports director Steven Vanharen will look to take the team back to the top of the Israeli league. But before the domestic season starts in late August, there is a trophy up for grabs just before the squad heads off to play in European qualifiers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a final ahead of us and we’ve played Be’er Sheva four times since I arrived,\u201d Miller began. “They’re an excellent team that won the league title. We have to deal with that, but it’s only one match, and we need to come with the right energy and win it. For me, we need to continue the level we showed at the end of last season. We have to defend as a team, attack as a team, win as a team and lose as a team. We need to improve collectively, make the adjustments we need and correct the mistakes we made last season.\u201d
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Ron Kozuk – Screenshot<\/p><\/div>
\nRon Kozuk, who signed an extension at Beer Sheva also shared his opening thoughts, \u201cThere’s a title on the line and we want to win trophies. I feel very good about the team. The players we’ve brought in are adapting quickly to our rhythm and philosophy and the players who were already here have welcomed them well. There’s still a lot of work to do and there will continue to be throughout the season. Overall, I feel good about the squad and I know we still need to strengthen certain positions, but that will happen in due time.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for positions, Miller knows that this current version of Maccabi will not be the one that will be playing for the championship as the club looks to bring in some new players but the market has been a bit slow due to the World Cup.
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Kenny Miller – Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\n\u201cThe club is working very hard to bring in new players and I’m sure the fans will soon see some new faces. Sometimes these things take time because there are agents, clubs and players involved, but I’m confident new signings will arrive soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, over at Beer Sheva, Kozuk has been able to bring in a number of new recruits in Marco Wolf and Niv Yehoshua along with Joao Victor, \u201cI coached Marco beforehand in the Premier League and he’s an excellent goalkeeper. He’ll contribute both with his leadership and his professional ability. Niv is a very talented Israeli player with enormous potential. He’ll need to take the next step at Be’er Sheva and I believe both of them are capable of doing that.\u201d
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Ron Kozuk – Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\n\u201cAs for Victor, he\u2019s a player we’ve been tracking for a long time. He actually caught our attention while we were scouting another player. He’s very committed and eager to learn and take the next step. Former Maccabi player Weslley Patati’s name came up a lot during my conversations with him, that\u2019s the level he aspires to reach. His goal is to become a leading player in Israeli football. Of course, that takes time because it’s a new country and everything is new for him, but he’s very positive and has settled in well both professionally and socially with the rest of the squad. He’s in good physical condition, although he’s not yet ready to play a full match.\u201d<\/p>\n
The respective captains, Maccabi\u2019s Dor Peretz and Beer Sheva\u2019s Miguel Vitor, both almost did not return to their team this season as the former almost signed in Croatia while the latter was looking to perhaps hang up his cleats. But both are back and better than ever as the new season is about to begin.
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Dor Peretz – Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\n\u201cI’ll keep it short, the main point is that I’m here and I’m happy to be here,\u201d Peretz opened. \u201cProcesses take time, and both the club and I went through a certain process. I’m very happy with the decision I made, and I’m glad the club saw the right things in me. I had personal considerations. In the end, my family and I weighed everything and realized what Maccabi Tel Aviv means to us. Maccabi Tel Aviv is the highest place for me and we made our decision after considering every factor.”<\/p>\n
Vitor also chimed in about his decision to stay, \u201cI wanted to clear my head after a long season and spend time with my family before thinking about what I wanted to do next. For me, it was important to feel happy. Every day I come to training and matches with the goal of helping the team both on and off the field. I also spoke with my wife and I felt this was the right decision. I still have something to contribute to everyone here. I’m happy to be here and I need to feel fully committed and 100 percent invested.\u201d
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-9.19.12-PM.png\")
Miguel Vitor – Screenshot<\/p><\/div>
\nPeretz shared his thoughts about what it will take for Maccabi to once again come out on top and win a trophy against the league champions, \u201cLike every big match, they’re a tough opponent. They’re the league champions and we respect them. At the same time, we want to win every trophy, and this is the first one of the season. We’re preparing well and I hope we’ll produce our best performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the season ahead, the Maccabi captain outlined what he feels will be the keys to their success, \u201cWe\u2019ll have to stay consistent. Our collective defending will be crucial and we’ll need to be committed in every competition. We also want to be an exciting and creative attacking team because that’s what the fans enjoy and what benefits us as well. But we also have to keep clean sheets.\u201d
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Miguel Vitor – Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>\u00a0
\nOver at Beer Sheva, Vitor knows that his team is now going to be hunted each and every week, \u201cIt’s a bit of a clich\u00e9, but it’s harder to defend a championship than to win one. We’re now the team everyone wants to beat, so it will be more difficult. But I believe I know what we need to do. We’ve already shown that we know what it takes, so now we just have to keep working hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bottom line is for Miller is that there is a title on the line and his team will do the best that they can to take home the trophy, \u201cIt’s going to be a very difficult match. They have excellent players, but so do we. These are two outstanding teams and the game will be decided by the small details. We’ll need to take our chances and ideally score a few goals in the first half. We’ll have to play with the right intensity, because if we fall short in the little things, the match will become much more difficult. We have quality in this squad and we’ll be as prepared as possible.\u201d
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_4265.jpg\")
Kenny Miller – Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nWhile Beer Sheva will already have their Icelandic foe in the back of this minds, Kozuk is looking at the philosophy of one day at a time and that the new season is upon the club with a blank slate in front of them, \u201cOur assessment of V\u00edkingur was actually that they would advance. They’re a very good team. We had a feeling they would be our opponent, even though we prepared for both possible teams. Neither outcome surprised us.”<\/p>\n
\u201cBut first, we’ll do everything we can to win the Super Cup and then we’ll focus on them. For me, it’s about winning a new trophy and not defending the one we won last season. I’m happy we won it last year, we worked very hard for it, but that’s history now. Starting on Thursday, we have to go out and win trophies again.\u201d
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_9479.jpg\")
Ron Kozuk – Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Beer Sheva will kick off the 2026\/27 season when they meet in the annual Super Cup match on Thursday (19:30 Israel time) at Turner Stadium in the southern capital. The traditional clash pits the League winner and State Cup title holder in what is always an enticing contest for players […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":185103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[21,4,6542],"class_list":["post-185049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-israel-2","tag-hapoel-beer-sheva","tag-maccabi-tel-aviv","tag-super-cup","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n