Hapoel Beer Sheva head into Wednesday night needing a comeback, and their coach believes the surface under their feet might finally help.
Ran Kozuk, speaking to reporters ahead of the second leg of the club's Champions League second qualifying round tie against Vikingur Reykjavik, noted that the return match will be played on a proper grass pitch — a contrast, he said, to the conditions the team faced in Iceland. "We're finally playing on grass and we'll try to use that too," Kozuk said, according to ONE, while cautioning that the surface alone would not hand his side a decisive edge.
Beer Sheva, the reigning Israeli Premier League champions, go into the second leg trailing 2-1 after last week's defeat in Reykjavik, where Vikingur snatched the win with a late goal. The Israeli champions need at least a two-goal winning margin at the final whistle to progress directly to the third qualifying round; a narrower win would send the tie to extra time and potentially penalties.
As with previous continental campaigns, Beer Sheva's home leg is not being played at their own Turner Stadium in the Negev. The match is instead being staged at a neutral venue in Szombathely, Hungary, with kickoff set for 20:30 local time on Wednesday.
Kozuk was blunt about what needs to change from the first leg. He said the team must show far greater defensive aggression than it did in Iceland, and pointed to several attacking patterns the squad had drilled in training that never surfaced during the 90 minutes there.
The coach was complimentary about the opponent, describing Vikingur as "an excellent team" and stressing that advancing will require hard work rather than any shortcut. Iceland's champions eliminated Hungary's Gyor in the previous round before taking the lead in this tie.
For Beer Sheva, the stakes extend beyond bragging rights. A place in the third qualifying round would keep alive their run toward the Champions League league phase and, at minimum, a guaranteed continental fallback place should they eventually fall short in a later round.
