It has been a rough season for coaches in the Premier League - no fewer than 10 have been appointed during the course of the 2007-08 campaign. One of those is Roni Busani, who arrived at Ironi Nahariya after the club had suffered four straight defeats but has since led the team to a perfect record so far - two wins in its past two games - which has brought the club into fourth place.
"I don't know what happened before me, and this is not the time to talk about the changes," says Busani. "Ever since I arrived, there have been changes regarding the club and the players. You need to wait until the end in order to make any conclusions. I hope that they will not be one-time fixes."
While Busani tries to be humble, a source at the club gives him the credit. "He has brought quiet to the club," says the source. "Ido [Kozikaro], Matan [Naor] and Ashante [Johnson] are getting more minutes and you can see the results on the parquet."
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"It's not just Roni," adds the source. "The got to a point where they didn't have anyone to blame. A situation was created in the standings in which clubs lost and therefore we moved up to fourth place."
After victories at Maccabi Rishon Letzion and at home against Afula, Busani expects a much bigger obstacle tonight (7:30 P.M., Sport 5). Even though Maccabi Tel Aviv is currently stuck in a terrible run in the league, it has been difficult for a numbers of years for Nahariya, as opposed to other clubs, to defeat the perennial league champion.
"Except for one game in which they kicked our butts, all of the other games when we hosted them have been close," insists a source close to Nahariya's management. "We haven't been able to win, but that's just a matter of luck."
A visit by Maccabi to Nahariya normally stirs up a lot of interest in Nahariya, and that is also the case tonight.
"The arena is always explosive when Maccabi comes to Nahariya," says a source at the club. "Even though Nahariya has been one of the tops teams for a number of years now, Maccabi is still a big name here. When they arrive, there are those who come to see them and there are those who come to beat them, and you can understand both types [of fans]."
It appears as if now is a good time to face Maccabi, six days after it lost to Hapoel Holon and five days before the Euroleague Final Four. Busani - Zvika Sherf's assistant with the national team - refuses to get swept away.
"There is a chance to beat Maccabi in any game [against them]," he says. "We don't know how well they will play against us, whether they will want to practice new things ahead of the [Euroleague] Final Four or whether they will be afraid to do so out of a fear that a spy will be there on behalf of Siena (Maccabi Tel Aviv's opponent in Friday's Euroleague semifinal)."
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