Soccer / Maccabi Tel Aviv turns to Montenegrin to keep European hopes alive

Needing to win by three goals if Paris St.-Germain scores once tonight, Maccabi Tel Aviv faces an uphill battle to stay alive in Europa League play. The signing of Montenegrin defender Savo Pavicevic on the eve of the team's first-leg battle last week in France indicates that Maccabi's coaching staff does not have its act together to prepare for such a challenge

	Savo Pavicevic making his Premier League debut for Maccabi Tel Aviv, August 21, 2010.
	Photo by: Sharon Bukov

Paris St.-Germain blaned Maccabi 2-0 last week in France.

At the same time, the addition of Pavicevic, who plays on Montenegro's national team, could save Tel Aviv an away goal by the French that would likely knock it out of Europe.

Until the signing, Canadian owner Mitchell Goldhar had every reason to believe that the hugs between manager Avi Nimni and head coach Yossi Mizrahi, especially after Maccabi's surprise ousting of Olympiacos, were genuine. However, two days before the flight to Paris sports websites began posting reports of talks with Pavicevic.

Mizrahi, who first got wind of the brewing deal from the Internet, was shocked to hear that a club spokesman was about to confirm the reports about Pavicevic joining. Just the day before he and Nimni had talked with the front office about the injury to defender Nivaldo being less serious than previously thought, and said they expected the Brazilian to join the team within a month. The conclusion was that the team would seek a foreign player to shore up the midfield.

Maccabi officials resolved the dissonance by saying the opportunity to sign Pavicevic had arisen suddenly and had to be decided quickly. Nimni got the green light from Goldhar, and the defender went straight to Paris.

Pavicevic's name had come up a year ago, but at the time he opted for a small Greek team, A.O. Kavala, which he helped lead to a sixth-place finish in that country's Super League. Dragomir Okuka, the team's Serbian coach, describes Pavicevic as a real professional with a work ethic, who has a strong kick, great strength and a deep understanding of the game. Although Kavala released Pavicevic after he had a run-in with the team president, Okuka says the main consideration for letting the defender go was financial - the team, mired in economic problems, saved 250,000 euros by shipping him to Israel.

"Maccabi won an outstanding defender and person," says Ivica Iliev, who played for Maccabi last season and played with Pavicevic for German club Energie Cottbus during the 2008-2009 season. Stefan Heidrich, who coached Cottbus at the time, says if the team hadn't been demoted Pavicevic might still be there. "He's a tall defender, strong and experienced, who understands the game."

Despite concerns about his journeyman status - he has played for 10 clubs in 10 years - Mizrahi told Nimni after the first practice that he was impressed by Pavicevic. They liked him so much he started after just one practice. They agreed that he arrived sharp from his national team training camp, which should overcome coordination problems on defense.

Tonight is the acid test.