Today at 12:00 P.M. USA Eastern, Shakhter Karagandy hosts Maccabi Haifa. The Bet365 odds say Maccabi Haifa is more likely to win. At 3:05 P.M. Bordeaux hosts Maccabi Tel Aviv. The odds are about even despite Bordeaux having a 59.800 coefficient and Maccabi Tel Aviv having a 8.075 coefficient.
Shakhter Karagandy took a 2-0 lead before Maccabi Haifa had a shot on target. Maccabi Haifa came back to get a 2-2 draw with both of their goals from substitutes. Shakhter Karagandy had 21 fouls and Maccabi Haifa had only 5. Both clubs had 4 shots on target and 5 corner kicks. This gets Israel's season coefficient up to 3.000, which increases Israel's five season sum because five seasons ago Israel got only 1.750. As of now and for the rest of this season, Israel will have their highest UEFA coefficient value ever.
Bordeaux 1-2 Maccabi Tel Aviv. Bordeaux scored in the 48th minute. Maccabi Tel Aviv scored in the 71st minute and the game-winning goal in the 80th minute. Maccabi Tel Aviv had more shots on target, 8 to 4, with both clubs scoring on 25% of their shots on target. Corner kicks (only 1 each) and offsides (2 each) were even. Maccabi Tel Aviv had more fouls but only one yellow card. Bordeaux had four yellow cards. Nobody got ejected. http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleagu...match=2012511/postmatch/commentary/index.html has commentary, lineups, and statistics. The group standings are: Eintracht Frankfurt 6 Maccabi Tel Aviv 4 APOEL Nicosia 1 Bordeaux 0
Tomorrow at 1:00 P.M. is PAOK-Maccabi Haifa and at 3:05 P.M. is Eintracht Frankfurt-Maccabi Tel Aviv (times are USA Eastern). The latter game is on ESPN3 which is online. The former game will have a Spanish referee and the latter game will have an Italian referee. On all six Group Stage matchdays both Israeli clubs will be at home (Matchdays 1, 4, and 6) or both will be away (Matchdays 2, 3, and 5).
PAOK came back from down 2-0 to win 3-2, and Maccabi Haifa saved 2 penalty kicks in the loss. PAOK had 11 shots on target and 11 shots not on target. Maccabi Haifa had 4 of each.
Maccabi Tel Aviv got a red card and Eintracht Frankfurt scored the only 2 goals of the game. Eintracht Frankfurt had more shots, 21 to 1, and more shots on target, 8 to 1.
After Eintracht Frankfurt held Maccabi Tel Aviv to 1 shot in Germany, today Maccabi Tel Aviv won 4-2. Each team had 9 shots of which 6 were on target. Eintracht Franfurt had 53% of the possession and fewer yellow cards, 2 to 3. Maccabi Tel Aviv led 3-0 at halftime at scored at the end after Eintracht Frankfurt made it 3-2. http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleagu...469/match=2012559/postmatch/report/index.html is titled "Four-goal Maccabi Tel-Aviv stun Frankfurt." In the other game in the group today, APOEL Nicosia beat Bordeaux 2-1 with each club getting a red card, so when Maccabi Tel Aviv goes to APOEL Nicosia in three weeks APOEL Nicosia will have a player suspended. The standings through 4 of 6 games are: Eintracht Frankfurt 9 Maccabi Tel Aviv 7 APOEL Nicosia 4 Bordeaux 3 Maccabi Tel Aviv will clinch advancing to the Round of 32 if they win at APOEL Nicosia or play a draw with goals and Bordeaux doesn't beat Eintracht Frankfurt. A draw with goals would give Maccabi Tel Aviv the head-to-head away goals tiebreaker over APOEL Nicosia because the clubs played a scoreless draw in Israel. Maccabi Haifa and PAOK are scoreless so far.
Maccabi Haifa played a scoreless draw. PAOK had 55% of the possession and 3 of the 4 shots on target. Maccabi Haifa had more corner kicks, 9 to 4. Each club got three yellow cards. PAOK and AZ Alkmaar have 8 points each with Maccabi Haifa and Shakhter Karagandy having 2 points each. Israel's country coefficient is up to 4.250 for 2013-2014 and 25.375 for 2009-2010 through 2013-2014.
Today at 1:00 P.M. USA Eastern is AZ Alkmaar-Maccabi Haifa with AZ Alkmaar as big favorites. APOEL Nicosia-Maccabi Tel Aviv is at 3:05 P.M. USA Eastern. Since Maccabi Tel Aviv is 3 points ahead of APOEL Nicosia and Maccabi Tel Aviv-APOEL Nicosia was scoreless, if head-to-head away goals is a tiebreaker before goal differential then Maccabi Tel Aviv will clinch a spot in the Round of 32 with a draw with goals. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maccabi_Tel_Aviv_F.C._in_Europe Maccabi Tel Aviv has never advanced past a Group Stage in a UEFA competition.
AZ Alkmaar scored in the 37th minute and 90+5th minute to win 2-0. Maccabi Haifa had 51% of the possession without a shot on target. Maccabi Haifa had much more combined corner kicks and free kicks, 24 to 14. AZ Alkmaar had 5 shots on target. Maccabi Haifa has 2 points through 5 games and cannot advance to the Round of 32. Maccabi Haifa ends by hosting Shakhter Karagandy. Maccabi Haifa and Shakhter Karagandy are currently tied with 2 points, 2 head-to-head goals in a draw, 4 goals scored, and 8 goals allowed each.
Maccabi Tel Aviv committed way more fouls and had only 1 shot on target in their scoreless draw. Maccabi Tel Aviv advances unless they lose at home to Bordeaux, APOEL Nicosia wins at Eintracht Frankfurt (who won 1-0 at Bordeaux today), and APOEL Nicosia (currently -3) catches Maccabi Tel Aviv (currently +1) on goal differential. Bordeaux is eliminated. Maccabi Tel Aviv's draw gets Israel up to 4.500 coefficient points this season which is 15th in UEFA.
Today the Group Stage ends with Maccabi Tel Aviv hosting Bordeaux at 1:00 P.M. USA Eastern and Maccabi Haifa hosting Shakhter Karagandy at 3:05 P.M. USA Eastern. You can follow Maccabi Tel Aviv's game at http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleagu...live/index.html?day=6&session=1&match=2012607 and they're in a 4-2-1-2-1 formation.
Following a second yellow card and ejection for a Bordeaux player in the 73rd minute, Eran Zahavi scored the only goal of the game on a penalty kick in the 74rd minute. Maccabi Tel Aviv won 1-0 and advanced to the Round of 32. The final standings in that group are: Eintracht Frankfurt: 15 Maccabi Tel Aviv: 11 APOEL Nicosia: 5 Bordeaux: 3 Shakhter Karagandy scored on a penalty kick in the 44th minute. Maccabi Haifa scored in the 76th minute and the 84th minute and won 2-1. The final standings in that group are: AZ Alkmaar: 12 PAOK: 12 Maccabi Haifa: 5 Shakhter Karagandy: 2 Israel's country coefficient for 2009-2010 through 2013-2014 so far is 26.625 which ranks 17th. Israel's country coefficient for 2013-2014 so far is 5.500 which ranks 15th.
Maccabi Tel Aviv will host the Round of 32 first Leg againt Basel of Switzerland, who knocked Maccabi Tel Aviv out of the Champions League in Qualifying Round 3.
we need to win this, win this big. Basel aren't nearly as good now without Salah, but I would've loved to have beaten them with that prick on the team.
If Maccabi Tel Aviv either wins at Basel or advances with a draw at Basel and then gets a win and/or draw in the Round of 16, Israel will move up to 16th in the country coefficients. The last time Israel was in the Top 16 was when Israel was 16th for the five seasons ending 2004-2005. Israel currently trails 16th place Romania by 0.382.
In the current format the champion of Country 16 gets to start in Qualifying Round 3 (instead of Qualifying Round 2) if the defending champion qualifies through league position, but that might change for 2015-2016 when the Europa League winner qualifies also. The country coefficients after 2013-2014 do not affect allocations until 2015-2016. The bad thing about starting a round later would be losing the opportunity to earn coefficient points from Qualifying Round 2. The big deal is if Israel can reach the top 15 because that would get the second place club into the non-champions path of Champions League qualifying and the fourth place club in the Europa League (and possibly the fifth place club depending on the league ranking of the State Cup winner). I don't think the second place club from Israel would have much success against the second place club from France, Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Turkey, and other leagues ranked around there, but if the second place club from Israel lost in the non-champions path Qualifying Round 3, they would go into the Europa League Playoff Round. Edit: You asked about "a higher seed." The seeded and unseeded clubs in qualifying rounds and the pots for group stage draws are determined by club coefficients, not country coefficients.
Basel-Maccabi Tel Aviv starts in just under 4 hours. Here are the probabilities based on the Bet365 odds: Basel win 56.5% Draw: 25.7% (Maccabi Tel Aviv advances if there is a draw with goals and a scoreless draw would result in extra time) Maccabi Tel Aviv win: 17.8% Currently Israel is 15th and Switzerland is 16th in the country coefficients just for 2013-2014, and today will help determine which country finishes higher. Both clubs are the last remaining club from their country.
Basel won 3-0. Maccabi Tel Aviv had 53% of the possession, 1 fewer foul, and 1 fewer yellow card (Basel had the only one). Basel dominated the shots, 12 to 1, and shots on target, 6 to 1. This concludes the 2013-2014 UEFA competitions for Israeli clubs and Israel will finish the season 17th in the five season country coefficients.