Hapoel Beer Sheva will host Sabah in Champions League qualifying playoffs in Bucharest as both teams will be dreaming of reaching the league phase for the first time ever in their history. Ahead of the big clash, the Israeli champions held a press conference, with head coach Ran Kozuk and captain Miguel Vitor who spoke about the challenge that lies ahead of the southern reds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are preparing just like we would do for any other game,\u201d Kozuk began. \u201cI saw a very high-quality and fast Sabah team that knows how to punish you on the counterattack and they are definitely a very well-coached team. We\u2019re excited, but at the end of the day, it\u2019s another football match. We\u2019ll need to be as prepared as possible. We focused on the small details and we\u2019ll have to win those small moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew we would have to make changes to the squad, with some players leaving the squad and others arriving. All along, I believed we would reach the playoffs. As for our current players, many of them don\u2019t receive the appreciation they deserve. I hope the next two games will prove just how good they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
On new signing Yonas Malede, Kozuk said, \u201cThe responsibility is on him to revive his career. I think he has the ability, potential and qualities. The relationship between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Beer Sheva is excellent, which is why he is here. I hope he can go as far as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
The captain Miguel Vitor added, \u201cI\u2019m very excited to return to this stage. This is why I\u2019m still playing football, to play on this stage. It\u2019s every footballer\u2019s dream. I hope we can take the final step and reach the Champions League. These games are decided by the smallest details. We\u2019ll need to stick to the football that brought us this far. We\u2019ll have to continue doing the same thing, even when there\u2019s more pressure on us. Wednesday\u2019s game will be 50\/50 and it will be different from the Red Star Belgrade game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we reached the Europa League group stage and played against Inter, everyone in Beer Sheva was going crazy. It takes me back to that and now we have an opportunity to do something even bigger. Unfortunately, we can\u2019t play in Beer Sheva, but we really want to bring that happiness to the fans and reach the Champions League.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hapoel Beer Sheva will host Sabah in Champions League qualifying playoffs in Bucharest as both teams will be dreaming of reaching the league phase for the first time ever in their history. Ahead of the big clash, the Israeli champions held a press conference, with head coach Ran Kozuk and captain Miguel Vitor who spoke […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":186387,"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],"class_list":["post-188599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-israel-2","tag-hapoel-beer-sheva","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n