Today was the draw for the first two qualifying rounds of the 2010-2011 UEFA Champions League. Israeli champions Hapoel Tel Aviv will start play in the Second Qualifying Round on July 13 or 14 against FK Zeljeznicar Sarajevo, the champions of Bosnia-Herzegovina. FK Zeljeznicar Sarajevo has the fifth best club coefficient of the seventeen unseeded clubs in the Second Qualifying Round. Hapoel Tel Aviv needs to go through three rounds to make the Group Stage and will be seeded in every Qualifying or Playoff Round they participate in. Edit: Can a moderator put an [R] in the title?
I added an [R] to the title. Regarding the draw, Hapoel Tel Aviv is putting a lot into making the UEFA Champions League this year so they better take this opponent seriously.
Using my formula (found at my blog on BigSoccer) to convert odds at https://www.bwin.com/football to probabilities, here are the probabilities for the first leg which is at Hapoel Tel Aviv: Hapoel Tel Aviv win: 62.1% Draw: 24.0% FK Zeljeznicar Sarajevo win: 13.9% Furthermore, my formula and bwin's odds give Hapoel Tel Aviv a 9.3% chance of winning 2-0 and a 41.0% chance of winning 1-0. My formula and bwin's odds give Hapoel Tel Aviv a 76.9% chance of winning the series, which means that the odds give them a significant chance of advancing if they don't win the first leg.
I'm watching at http://www.iraqgoals.tv/ch3.html and by the time I started watching Hapoel Tel Aviv was up 2-0. At first I was worried they were down 2-0 because Hapoel Tel Aviv is at home, the home club's score is normally listed first, and Hapoel Tel Aviv score is listed second. Hapoel Tel Aviv is up 4-0 in the 34th minute. UEFA seems to have missed the third goal but http://www.flashscore.com/ agrees that it is 4-0. Edit: Hapoel Tel Aviv won 5-0. Maaran Lala scored 3 goals. All the goals were in the first half.
So do I. On Friday there is the draw for the Third Qualifying Round where they will find out two possible opponents. The second legs of the Second Qualifying Round are Tuesday and Wednesday so in less than a week we will know their next opponent. Right now using http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010–11_UEFA_Champions_League you can find out 20 possible Third Qualifying Round opponents.
Assuming Hapoel Tel Aviv advances they will play FK Aktobe from Kazakhstan or Olimpi Rustavi from Georgia next in the Third Qualifying Round. Maccabi Haifa beat FK Aktobe in last season's Third Qualifying Round.
HTA gets the winner of Aktobe (Kazakhstan) or Olimpi Rustavi (Georgia) in the next round. Aktobe won their home leg 2-0. The return game is July 21 in Georgia. Certainly seems like a great opportunity for Hapoel to make it to the group stage!
I think Hapoel will pass the next round but Aktobe made it tough for Maccabi Haifa last year. I feel bad for Maccabi Tel Aviv and Bnei Yehuda in the Europa League, they both got the hardest possible draws with Olympiacos and Juventus.
Isn't there a playoff round after the 3rd qualifying? So a win over either of those 2 doesn't put them through to groups, right? And as for the Europa League, its tough but not impossible. And Juventus is close to acquiring Forlan too
Yes. Last season Hapoel Tel Aviv advanced through two Europa League qualifying rounds, won their group, and were eliminated in the Round 32. That gave them almost twice as many UEFA coefficient points as Maccabi Haifa, who advanced through three Champions League qualifying rounds. That means it would be nice for Israel to get at least two clubs to group stages because the Europa League can provide nice amount of points. If Hapoel Tel Aviv beats FK Aktobe they will be guaranteed to reach the Group Stage of the Champions League or the Europa League.
I think that they all play on either Wednesday or Thursday. Hapoel Tel Aviv is in a race against the clock to register Ben Sahar who is rejoining the club on loan for this season.
Last season in the Second Qualifying Round, four of the seventeen aggregates were decided by more than 6 goals with the most being 12 and Maccabi Haifa winning 10-0 on aggregate. This season in the Second Qualifying Round, Hapoel Tel Aviv's 6-0 aggregate win was the biggest margin of the seventeen series. Hapoel Tel Aviv won 1-0 today.
http://www.easyodds.com/compareodds/football/g/246/tc/128/champions-league-betting.html has the first odds I found for Wednesday's first leg at FK Aktobe. Here are the probabilities using my formula on my BigSoccer blog for converting odds into probabilities: Hapoel Tel Aviv win: 49.4% Draw: 25.8% FK Aktobe win: 24.7%
I wouldn't be surprised if it's a draw, I hear their pitch is in terrible condition. Haifa didn't play well there either. But Hapoel shouldn't have a hard time winning at home like we did.
Can't guarantee anything but check this site on the day of the game: http://www.myp2p.eu/ or http://www.atdhe.net/
Update FC Aktobe 0-0 Hapoel Tel Aviv Halftime It seems that the only way to follow the match is on the UEFA.com website.
Update FC Aktobe 1-0 Hapoel Tel Aviv Currently in the 71st minute Sounds like Douglas da Silva fouled a player in the box. The ensuing penalty kick was scored by the captain, Samat Smakov. Romain Rocchi is now out and Yossi Shivhon has come on.
Re: Update its over hapoel played horrible anyema saved 3 for sure goals and de silva got a hand ball not a foul ben sahar came in 57 minute but didnt change much weak game for hapoel big dissapointment
What a bad result. Even a 2-1 loss would've been better, now they have to win by at least 2 goals at Bloomfield. I think Hapoel is definitely good enough to do it but all the pressure is on them. I know it's still a bit early but I have to say this has been an embarrassing year so far for Israeli teams in Europe. Our clubs already lost games to teams from Kazakhstan, Montenegro and Ireland. We have one good year where it looks like our football is improving and now we can't even beat teams from the weakest leagues in Europe.