Both Israeli clubs got good draws. Hapoel Be'er Sheva will host the first leg against NK Maribor of Slovenia, who has the worst coefficient of the five seeded clubs. Maccabi Tel Aviv will host the second leg against SCR Altach of Austria, whose coefficient ranks 13th out of the 22 unseeded club.
Israeli clubs have had 3-2 aggregates against NK Maribor in Champions League qualifiers twice in the eight complete seasons with the current qualifying format. In 2011-2012, Maccabi Haifa won the aggregate 3-2, and in 2014-2015 Maccabi Tel Aviv lost the aggregate 3-2. NK Maribor beat Zrinjski Mostar 3-2 on aggregate in Qualifying Round 2 and FH Hafnarfjordur 2-0 on aggregate in Qualifying Round 3. Those are not impressive scores. Although SCR Altach has only a 6.570 coefficient, they won an aggregate 4-2 over Gent of Belgium, who has a 35.480 coefficient. Highlights:
I will post if the Champions League Playoff Round games will be on TV in the USA when I find that out. Half the clubs will play on Tuesday 15 August and Wednesday 23 August. Half the clubs, including Hapoel Be'er Sheva, will play on Wednesday 16 August and Tuesday 22 August. The other four pairings on 16 August and 22 August are Olympiakos Piraeus vs. Rijeka, Celtic vs. Astana, Sevilla vs. Istanbul Basaksehir, and Nice vs. Napoli. Celtic's second leg will start earlier than the rest of the games because it is at Astana, who is way east of the rest of UEFA, so that could help Hapoel Be'er Sheva's second leg at NK Maribor be on TV live.
Here are the first leg probabilities based on the Intertops odds: Hapoel Be'er Sheva won: 59.1% Draw: 25.8% Maribor win: 15.1% SCR Altach win: 36.9% Draw: 29.6% Maccabi Tel Aviv win: 33.5%
Hapoel Be'er Sheva's first leg will be on ESPN3 online with coverage starting at 2:35 P.M. The second leg will be on Fox regional sports networks.
Maribor took the lead in the 10th minute on a Marcos Tavares goal when two defenders messed up. Anthony Nwakaeme promptly tied it in the 12th minute. Hapoel Be'er Sheva was not given three possible penalty kicks (two for handballs and one when goalkeeper Handanovic got the ball and then tripped a Hapoel Be'er Sheva player). I don't know if they should have been penalty kicks. Hapoel Be'er Sheva did take the lead with a penalty kick goal in the 45+2nd minute. Hapoel Be'er Sheva had better statistics with 62% of the possesssion, more shots (6 to 3), more shots on target (3 to 2), and more corner kicks (5 to 0). The penalty kick came with a yellow card for Maribor which was the only card of the half.
http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsle...d=2000880/match=2021571/statistics/index.html has statistics. Hapoel Be'er Sheva had more shots on target, 9 to 3, and 57% of the possession.
Altach 0-1 Maccabi Tel Aviv Altach had 58% of the possession, more than double the shots (16 to 7) and double the shots on target (8 to 4). 21 year old Serbian goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic made 8 saves. Israel is up to 4.000 coefficient points. If Hapoel Be'er Sheva draws at Maribor and gets 4 Bonus Points for reaching the Champions League Group Stage and Maccabi Tel Aviv wins hosting Altach, Israel would be up to 5.375. 4.000 is more than Israel's average of the last five complete seasons.
The Intertops odds have Maribor slightly more likely to win than Hapoel Be'er Sheva. It's the second consecutive round where the odds thought Hapoel Be'er Sheva was better than their club coefficient. The game at Maribor will be tomorrow at 2:45 P.M. USA Eastern on Fox regional sports networks. The Intertops odds are 1.45 for Maccabi Tel Aviv to beat Altach. I guessed the Europa League odds, and coincidentally I guessed exactly correct twice, both involving Israeli clubs or a club that just lost to an Israeli club. I guessed exactly for Maccabi Tel Aviv vs. Altach and for Suduva Marijampole vs. Ludogorets Razgrad.
The odds have changed and now have Hapoel Be'er Sheva more likely to win. http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Sports/Beersheba-set-for-crucial-match-at-Maribor-503073 is titled "Beersheba set for crucial match at Maribor." "Coach Barak Bachar has emphasized that Tuesday night’s Champions League playoff second leg at NK Maribor is 'the most important match in the club’s history.' " http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Sports/Mac-TA-brings-in-former-England-manager-McClaren-503074 is titled "Mac TA brings in former England manager McClaren." Steve McClaren managed England when they failed to qualify for Euro 2008. They won a tiebreaker with Israel for third, with Croatia and Russia qualifying.
The game starts in about 2 hours. The odds have continued to move in Hapoel Be'er Sheva's favor. The odds now have probabilities of 39.6% for a Hapoel Be'er Sheva win, 28.9% for a draw, and 31.4% for a Maribor win, with it adding up to 99.9% due to rounding.
Maribor scored the only goal of the game in the 15th minute and advanced on away goals after a 2-2 aggregate.
Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-2 Altach (3-2 aggregate) Maccabi Tel Aviv trailed twice but got a draw which was sufficient for them to reach the Europa League Group Stage, where they will be in Pot 2. Because Fenerbahce, Club Brugge, PAOK, Krasnodar, Dinamo Zagreb, and Midtjylland were eliminated by clubs with a lower coefficient than Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Hapoel Be'er Sheva is the bottom club in Pot 3. Hapoel Be'er Sheva's 10.875 is a little better than Apollon Limassol's 10.710, who are the top club in Pot 4. Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Be'er Sheva were both one pot better and 11 ranks better out of the 48 Group Stage clubs than they were last season. The draw is tomorrow. Israel has a 4.125 coefficient, which is second for 2017-2018 so far. The top country is Cyprus, who has a 5.750, and today Cyprus passed Israel for 18th for 2013-2014 through 2017-2018 so far. Cyprus at 20.300, Israel at 20.250, and Poland at 20.125 are very close, but Poland has all of their clubs eliminated. The next country who has one club left is Romania at 18.650. Serbia is the only country behind Israel with two clubs left, but Serbia is too far behind to pass Israel this season.
Here's the Group Stage draw: Group A: Villarreal (Spain): 64.999 (5th in Pot 1) Maccabi Tel Aviv: 23.375 (8th in Pot 2) Astana (Kazakhstan): 16.800 (1st in Pot 3) Slavia Prague (Czech Republic): 8.135 (5th in Pot 4) Group G: Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic): 40.635 (9th in Pot 1) FCSB (Romania): 35.370 (1st in Pot 2) Hapoel Be'er Sheva: 10.875 (12th in Pot 3) Lugano (Switzerland): 6.415 (10th in Pot 4)
Slavia Prague 1-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv Hapoel Be'er Sheva 2-1 Lugano Maccabi Tel Aviv had 64% of the possession and over triple the amount of corner kicks and free kicks (28 to 9), but they didn't have a shot on target. Both Israeli clubs faced the Pot 4 (bottom) team in their groups. Israel has 4.625 for 2017-2018 so far, and Israel passed Cyprus for 18th.
Viktoria Plzen 3-1 Hapoel Be'er Sheva Maccabi Tel Aviv 0-0 Villarreal Hapoel Be'er Sheva had 5 shots on target but was worse than Viktoria Plzen in most statistical categories. Maccabi Tel Aviv had 40% of the possession, 36% of the completed passes, and only 1 shot on target. Israel is sixth with 4.875 so far in 2017-2018 and is 18th with 21.00 for 2013-2014 through 2017-2018 so far.
I didn't post after a bad Matchday 3 for Israeli clubs. There was Astana 4-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Be'er Sheva 1-2 FCSB. Today the Israeli clubs faced the same opponents at opposite sites. Both Israeli clubs did better, but Maccabi Tel Aviv still lost. They had 68% of the possession, 71% of the attempted passes, and 75% of the completed passes, but Astana scored the only goal of the game with their only shot on target. Maccabi Tel Aviv had 5 shots on target, double the free kicks, and triple the corner kicks. The second game today with an Israeli club was FCSB 1-1 Hapoel Be'er Sheva, with FCSB scoring in the 31st minute and Hapoel Be'er Sheva scoring in the 37th minute. Viktoria Plzen won 4-1 hosting Lugano in the other game. FCSB has 10 points and has a 6 point lead and the head-to-head tiebreaker over Hapoel Be'er Sheva, so FCSB advances. The other three clubs had 3 points before today. Now Viktoria Plzen is second with 6, Hapoel Be'er Sheva is third with 4, and Lugano is fourth with 3. Hapoel Be'er Sheva goes to Lugano and ends hosting Viktoria Plzen. As long as Hapoel Be'er Sheva gets at least a draw and at least as many points at Lugano as Viktoria Plzen gets hosting FCSB, Hapoel Be'er Sheva will advance if they beat Viktoria Plzen. If Hapoel Be'er Sheva and Viktoria Plzen both lose their next game and Hapoel Be'er Sheva beats Viktoria Plzen, Hapoel Be'er Sheva will finish ahead of Viktoria Plzen, but Lugano could pass both them with a win at FCSB or a draw at FCSB and winning the tiebreaker over Hapoel Be'er Sheva. If Hapoel Be'er Sheva wins at Lugano and Viktoria Plzen loses hosting FCSB, Hapoel Be'er Sheva would just need a draw hosting Viktoria Plzen to advance. Israel is 19th in the country coefficients for 2013-2014 through part of 2017-2018. Israel is 11th in the country coefficients for 2017-2018 so far at 5.125. Israel's best season with the current Champions League qualifying format was being 12th with 7.250 in 2009-2010.
Nick Blackman scored the only goal of Villarreal 0-1 Maccabi Tel Aviv. Blackman is English, and he has played 12 games in the English Premier League and seasons in League Championship. Maccabi Tel Aviv finished last with 4 points, with all of them against first place Villarreal. Today Villarreal had 63% of the possession and 70% of the completed passes but did not have a shot on target. Maccabi Tel Aviv had 6 shots on target. It was Maccabi Tel Aviv's first goal of the Group Stage, and they tied with Zlin of Czech Republic for the fewest Group Stage goals. Astana finished second to advance, and Slavia Prague was eliminated.
Hapoel Be'er Sheva 0-2 Viktoria Plzen Both Israeli clubs had 1 win, 1 draw, and 4 losses. Israel finished with a 5.625 coefficient for 2017-2018. Their five season sum went from 19.375 for the five seasons ending 2016-2017 to 21.750 for the five seasons ending 2017-2018. The 0.500 for Maccabi Tel Aviv's win today made Israel pass Cyprus for 18th in the country coefficients, which is four spot improvement from 22nd for the five seasons ending 2016-2017. Israel started 2017-2018 ahead of Cyprus, and they went back-and-forth during the season. Israel passed Poland, Romania, Sweden, and Belarus. Six countries behind Israel still have 1 or 2 clubs competing and could pass Israel by the end of 2017-2018, but I don't think they will.