Israel was 27th in the country coefficients that determined access. Israel got only 2.375 in 2019-2020, but it was better than the 1.375 from 2014-2015 that dropped out, and Israel moved up to 23rd. At the start of 2020-2021, 2015-2016 dropped out, and countries with clubs that start in the Champions League Group Stage get points from that. In the last four seasons and this season where no countries near Israel have points, Israel ranks 22nd. There are 55 countries in UEFA. Now I'll move on to the draws and schedule: Champions League: Champions League Qualifying Rounds 1, 2, and 3 will have one game with the site being determined by the draw, so the seeded clubs don't host every game. The Playoff Round will have two legs. Qualifying Round 1 will be on Tuesday 18 August and Wednesday 19 August. Last year started over a month earlier, with first legs on 9 and 10 July and second legs on 16 and 17 July. Having three rounds have only one game makes the time catch up. Qualifying Round 1 has 34 champions. The seeded clubs had coefficients of Celtic of Scotland's 34.000 to Dinamo Tbilisi of Georgia's 4.750. The unseeded clubs had coefficients CS Fola Easch of Luxembourg's 4.750 to Floriana of Malta's 1.150. FK Sarajevo of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dinamo Tbilisi, and CS Fola Esch have the same coefficient. I'm guessing that CS Fola Esch was unseeded because Luxembourg has a worse country coefficient than the other two, but that may not be why. Maccabi Tel Aviv has a 16.500 that ranks seventh of the 34 clubs. After determining the seeded and unseeded clubs, the clubs were made into five groups for the draw, with Groups 1 through 3 having six clubs, and Groups 4 and 5 having eight clubs. Maccabi Tel Aviv was in Group 4, and their unseeded opponents could have been Dynamo Brest of Belarus that has 3.775, Riga FC of Latvia that has 3.500, KF Tirana of Albania that has 1.475, and Sileks Kratovo of North Macedonia that has 1.475. Maccabi Tel Aviv will host Riga on Wednesday 19 August at 8:00 P.M. local, which is 1:00 P.M. USA Eastern. The draw for Qualifying Round 2 was done using the seeded clubs' coefficients from Qualifying Round 1. It will have 20 clubs. Celtic's 34.000 led again, and Molde FK of Norway's 15.000 is the worst by a seeded club. Maccabi Tel Aviv is the second worst seeded club. The unseeded clubs range from FC Midtjylland of Denmark's 14.500 to Dinamo Tbilisi's 4.750. Unseeded clubs who win in Qualifying Round 1 can have worse coefficients than their Qualifying Round 2 opponents if they beat a club that would have been seeded in Qualifying Round 2. The clubs were again made into groups for the draw, with six clubs each in Groups 1 and 2, and eight clubs in Group 3. Maccabi Tel Aviv was drawn in Group 2, and their Qualifying Round 2 opponents before the draw could have been the winner of Ararat-Armenia (2.500) of Armenia hosting Omonia Nicosia (5.350) of Cyprus, the winner of Flora Tallinn (4.000) of Estonia hosting Suduva Marijampole (6.750) of Lithuania, or NK Celje (2.600) of Slovenia hosting Dundalk (8.500) of Ireland. If they advance, Maccabi Tel Aviv will go to Flora Tallinn or Suduva Marijampole on 25 or 26 August. The draw for Qualifying Round 3 will be on Monday 31 August, with the games on 15 and 16 September. Israel will have three clubs in the Europa League: Qualifying Round 1 will have 94 clubs. The clubs were put in fifteen groups, with Groups 1 through 13 having six clubs, and Groups 14 and 15 having eight clubs. Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Maccabi Haifa, and Beitar Jerusalem were seeded. The Europa League will have a Preliminary Round with two games on Tuesday 18 August and six games on Thursday 20 August. These 16 clubs come from countries ranked from 48th through 55th. The Europa League will have one game in each qualifying round and the Playoff Round. Europa League Qualifying Round 1 will be on 27 August. Hapoel Be'er Sheva (14.000) will host Dinamo Batumi (1.150) of Georgia. Dinamo Batumi has tied for the third worst coefficient of the 94 clubs if the bottom four unseeded clubs in the Preliminary Round lose in that round. Maccabi Haifa (3.925) will host Zeljeznicar Sarajevo (3.000) of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Beitar Jerusalem (3.925) will go to Teuta Durres (1.475) of Albania. Two of the three clubs are at home, and I'd be disappointed if any of them lose. The draw for Qualifying Round 2 will be on Monday 31 August at the same time as the draw for Champions League Qualifying Round 3. The draw for Europa League Qualifying Round 3 will be the next day on 1 September.
Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-0 Riga I'm disappointed that Maccabi Tel Aviv didn't score until the 58th minute hosting a much worse club. Nick Blackman* scored penalty kicks in the 58th and 88th minutes. Maccabi Tel Aviv had 57 percent of the possession and dominated shots (24 to 9) and shots on goal (9 to 2). All 7 of Maccabi Tel Aviv's shots on goal that weren't penalty kicks were saved. Maccabi Tel Aviv had fewer yellow cards (3 to 2) and fewer fouls (12 to 10), and more attacks (142 to 123). Each club had 11 free kicks. Riga had small advantages in corner kicks (5 to 4) and dangerous attacks (72 to 69). Riga had 58.5 percent of their attacks be dangerous compared to 48.6 percent for Maccabi Tel Aviv. Riga had 3.30 dangerous attacks per percent of possession, which is 53 percent higher than Maccabi Tel Aviv's 2.16. I didn't watch, but the statistics show that Maccabi Tel Aviv didn't do enough with their possession. In the game that determined where Maccabi Tel Aviv goes next week, Suduva Marijampole won penalty kicks 4-2 at Flora Tallinn of Estonia after the score was 1-1 after regulation and extra time. Suduva scored on a penalty kick in the 78th minute, so next week will be between two clubs who did not score from open play today. If Maccabi Tel Aviv reaches Qualifying Round 3, they are 10th of 12 clubs in club coefficient if all of the seeded clubs advanced. Astana of Kazakhstan (29.000) allowed a whopping 6 goals in a 6-3 loss at Dynamo Brest of Belarus (3.775). Dynamo Brest finished 5 points above BATE Borisov in the 2019 Belarusian Premier League to end BATE Borisov's streak of 13 titles, and winning by 3 over Astana shows Dynamo Brest could be on the rise. I then checked the 2020 table, which shows a different story. They are 9th of 16, which is in the bottom half, although they have 1 or 2 games in hand over every club above them, and they're 6th in points per game. Their +10 goal differential is fourth. * Blackman is from Barbados and played in the first Concacaf Nations League. He scored 3 goals in 2 games against weak teams, with 2 hosting Saint Martin, who is not a member of FIFA, and 1 hosting U.S. Virgin Islands, who is 207th of 210 in the FIFA Rankings. He's 30 years old, and spent a while in England with 12 games in the Premier League and many in League Championship. He played for Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2017-2018 and 2019-2020. In between, he played for Sporting Gijon in La Liga2 in 2018-2019. He scored 10 goals in 16 games in 2017-2018, but only 1 goal each in 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 with 32 games combined. Those are for domestic league games only.
Suduva Marijampole vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv will be the first Qualifying Round 2 game on Tuesday August 25 at 7:00 P.M. Israel/6:00 P.M. CET/12:00 P.M. USA Eastern. Here are the Europa League Qualifying 1 Round start times on Thursday August 27: Teuta Durres (Albania) vs. Beitar Jerusalem at 5:30 P.M. Israel/4:30 P.M. CET/10:30 A.M. USA Eastern Maccabi Haifa vs. Zeljeznicar (Bosnia and Herzegovina) at 8:00 P.M. Israel/7:00 P.M. CET/1:00 P.M. USA Eastern Hapoel Be'er Sheva vs. Dinamo Batumi (Georgia) at 8:45 P.M. Israel/7:45 P.M. CET/1:45 P.M. USA Eastern
Suduva Marijampole vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv will be at the time I posted above but on Wednesday August 26, and it won't be the first game of the round. There will be 2 games on Tuesday, 10 on Wednesday, and UEFA has to decide what to do about a Qualifying Round 1 game that was canceled due to COVID-19. I guess odds at my blog at https://evanjsoccer.wordpress.com/ and for last Wednesday's games I guessed odds for the first time in over a year, and the average amount I was off by was better than the previous five times I guessed odds. I don't look at coefficients or league tables to guess. I guess from memory.
The highlights I posted say Niks Blekmens when I saw his name as Nick Blackman. I know that some club names have two spellings, such as Bayern Munich/Bayern Munchen and Dinamo Kiev/Dynamo Kyiv. Maccabi Tel Aviv won 3-0 at Suduva Marijampole. I'll post more about it later. The draw for Qualifying Round 3 will be on Monday August 31 with the games after September's UEFA Nations League games. Edit: https://kassiesa.net/uefa/seedcl2020.html has Maccabi Tel Aviv eighth among ten clubs in Qualifying Round 3 with Champions if all the seeded clubs win in Qualifying Round 2. Luckily for Maccabi Tel Aviv, Ludogorets Razgrad of Bulgaria lost 1-0 hosting Midtjylland of Denmark, and three other seeded clubs are late in their games and could lose. Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia is 2-2 at CFR Cluj in Romania in the 113th minute. Dinamo Zagreb was up 1-0 when they got a straight red in the 51st minute that led to a failed penalty kick. CFR Cluj tied it, Dinamo Zagreb scored while down a man, and CFR Cluj equalized in the 90+3th minute that would have made the fans get loud if there were fans. Legia Warsaw of Poland got two yellows so far, which were to the same player in the 34th and 56th minutes. They were scoreless after regulation hosting Omonia Nicosia of Cyprus. Omonia Nicosia scored a penalty kick in the 92nd minute, and they lead 2-0 in the 117th minute. Celtic of Scotland is trailing 2-1 hosting Ferencvaros of Hungary in the 86th minute.
Maccabi Tel Aviv's third goal was in the 90+2nd minute. They dominated shots (11 to 1) and shots on goal (6 to 0). They had 67 percent of the possession, more than double the attacks, and more than double the dangerous attacks. Corner kicks were rare with 1 for Maccabi Tel Aviv and none for Suduva Marijampole. Those are short highlights. I hope to find longer highlights later. After extra time ended 2-2, Dinamo Zagreb won penalty kicks. Omonia Nicosia won 2-0 at Legia Warsaw after extra time. Ferencvaros held on to win 2-1 at Celtic. Celtic outshot Ferencvaros 25 to 4 according to one site and 28 to 7 according to another site. Having two of three of Dinamo Zagreb, Legia Warsaw, and Celtic lose is enough to make Maccabi Tel Aviv seeded on Qualifying Round 3. The clubs will be: Seeded: Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia (33.500), Young Boys of Switzerland (25.000), Red Star Belgrade/Crvena Zvezda of Serbia (22.750), Qarabag of Azerbaijan (21.000), and Maccabi Tel Aviv (16.500) Unseeded (Maccabi Tel Aviv's five possible opponents): Molde of Norway (15.000), Midtjylland of Denmark (14.500), Ferencvaros of Hungary (9.000), Omonia Nicosia of Cyprus (5.350), and Dynamo Brest of Belarus (3.775) Omonia Nicosia's coefficient is under one-third of Maccabi Tel Aviv's, and Dynamo Brest's coefficient is under one-quarter of Maccabi Tel Aviv's, but I don't know if I should be worried about clubs with low coefficients that beat clubs with much better coefficients. The Playoff Round will have Red Bull Salzburg of Austria (53.500), Olympiakos Piraeus of Greece (43.000), and Slavia Prague/Slavia Praha of Czech Republic (27.500) enter. The draw will be on Tuesday September 1, which is the day after the Qualifying Round 3 draw. Those three clubs and Dinamo Zagreb or an unseeded club that beats them will be seeded in the Playoff Round. The other four seeded clubs in Qualifying Round 3 will not be seeded in the Playoff Round. If Maccabi Tel Aviv wins in Qualifying Round 3, they will be in the Champions League or Europa League Group Stage. In the last two seasons, Israel didn't have any Group Stage clubs. Three Israeli clubs play in Europa League Qualifying Round 1 tomorrow.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/sports/maccabi-tel-aviv-opens-campaign-strongly-639339 is titled "Maccabi Tel Aviv opens campaign strongly." It's about last week's win over Riga. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/sports/maccabi-tel-aviv-advances-with-triumph-over-suduva-640054 is titled "Maccabi Tel Aviv advances with triumph over Suduva." Last season the clubs met in Europa League Qualifying Round 3, and Suduva Marijampole won both legs 2-1, which contributed to no Israeli clubs reaching a Group Stage for the second consecutive season. UEFA has commentary from during the games, but doesn't have recaps. The Jerusalem Post hasn't previewed tomorrow's Europa League games, but I hope they write about the games afterward. As I said in Post 3, tomorrow's start times are: Teuta Durres (Albania) vs. Beitar Jerusalem at 5:30 P.M. Israel/4:30 P.M. CET/10:30 A.M. USA Eastern Maccabi Haifa vs. Zeljeznicar (Bosnia and Herzegovina) at 8:00 P.M. Israel/7:00 P.M. CET/1:00 P.M. USA Eastern Hapoel Be'er Sheva vs. Dinamo Batumi (Georgia) at 8:45 P.M. Israel/7:45 P.M. CET/1:45 P.M. USA Eastern Betfair gives Beitar Jerusalem a 67.9 percent chance of advancing, Maccabi Haifa an 86.7 percent chance of advancing, and Hapoel Be'er Sheva a 76.9 percent chance at advancing. Multiplying them makes a 45.2 chance that all three clubs advance. They also provide odds of each club winning and of a draw after regulation, but since there is only one game, I gave the percent chance of advancing.
Zeljeznicar has five players and/or staff with coronavirus, Israel quarantined their whole club, and they won't play Maccabi Haifa today. Slovan Bratislava had to forfeit in Champions League Qualifying Round 1, and I'm guessing Zeljeznicar will have to forfeit.
Teuta Durres (Albania) 2-0 Beitar Jerusalem Hapoel Be'er Sheva 3-0 Dinamo Batumi (Georgia) Israeli clubs won on the field, lost in the field, and Maccabi Haifa might win by forfeit. In Monday's draw for Qualifying Round 2, Hapoel Be'er Sheva will be seeded, and Maccabi Haifa, who will probably win on the field if they have to, will be unseeded. The Champions League and Europa League both have draws on Monday and Tuesday. The Champions League is one round ahead of the Europa League. The Jerusalem Post didn't write about the Europa League. Israel's 1.250 country coefficient is tied for 19th through 22th, and Israel's sum of 18.625 for the last four complete seasons and the beginning of this one is 22nd. Israel was 23rd for the five seasons ending last season.
In Champions League Qualifying Round 3, Maccabi Tel Aviv will host Dynamo Brest of Belarus. Dynamo Brest's 3.775 coefficient is the worst of the remaining clubs. They were unseeded in Qualifying Round 2 and won 2-1 hosting FK Sarajevo of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who has a 4.750 coefficient. A 2-1 win hosting a club with a coefficient 1 point higher doesn't make me worry about Dynamo Brest being good. I'll be really disappointed if Maccabi Tel Aviv loses, and if Maccabi Tel Aviv wins they will reach the Group Stage of the Champions League or Europa League. In Europa League Qualifying Round 2: Maccabi Haifa will host Zeljeznicar of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday September 9 in a game that was postponed last week. If Maccabi Haifa reaches Qualifying Round 2, they will host Kairat Almasi of Kazakhstan. The 72 clubs in the Main Path were divided into 12 groups of 3 seeded clubs and 3 unseeded clubs. Kairat Almasi was the worst unseeded club in the group, and their 6.000 coefficient is tied for the third worst of the 36 seeded clubs. Maccabi Haifa has a 3.925 coefficient. Hapoel Be'er Sheva will go to KF Laci of Albania. KF Laci's 2.750 coefficient was the middle of the three unseeded clubs in the group, and it was the eighth lowest of the 36 unseeded clubs. Hapoel Be'er Sheva has a 14.000 coefficient. With two of three games at home and all of them against clubs with a coefficient of 6.000 or lower, it was a great draw. Tomorrow there will be the draw for the Champions League Playoff Round and Europa League Qualifying Round 3. If they advance, Maccabi Tel Aviv will face Red Bull Salzburg of Austria (53.500), Olympiacos Piraeus of Greece (43.000), Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia (33.500), Slavia Prague of Czech Republic (27.500), or Ferencvaros of Hungary (9.000). Red Bull Salzburg, Olympiacos Piraeus, and Slavia Prague start in the Playoff Round. Ferencvaros hosts Dinamo Zagreb in Qualifying Round 3. If Ferencvaros wins, they borrow Dinamo Zagreb's coefficient for the draw, and Maccabi Tel Aviv would be unseeded club with a higher coefficient than a seeded club. If they reach Europa League Qualifying Round 3, Hapoel Be'er Sheva will be seeded, and Maccabi Haifa will be unseeded. The Champions League Playoff Round will have two legs, with the first leg in the week of Europa League Qualifying Round 3, and the second leg in the week of the Europa League Playoff Round. The Europa League Playoff Round will be on Thursday October 1, which is 31 days from today.
If they reach the Champions League Playoff Round, Maccabi Tel Aviv will host the first leg against Red Bull Salzburg of Austria. Red Bull Salzburg's 53.500 is the best of the seeded clubs, so hosting the first leg against them is the hardest draw Maccabi Tel Aviv could have gotten, but Maccabi Tel Aviv would have a hard time against any seeded club. If Israeli clubs reach Europa League Qualifying Round 3: Maccabi Haifa will go to Rostov of Russia. Rostov's 12.000 coefficient is the third worst of the 26 seeded clubs. Maccabi Haifa was in the Group 5 for the draw, which had three seeded clubs. The other two were Tottenham of England, who is the best club in the round with an 85.000 coefficient, and Standard Liege of Belgium, who is tied for 14th among the seeded clubs with a 20.500. The rankings within seeded clubs are as if all the seeded clubs advance in Qualifying Round 2. Maccabi Haifa has a 3.925 coefficient, and they have to beat Zeljeznicar of Bosnia and Herzegovina in a game that was postponed and Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan just to face Rostov. I'd be shocked if Maccabi Haifa wins at Rostov, but I have a bit of hope that I wouldn't have against Tottenham. Hapoel Be'er Sheva was seeded in Group 7 for the draw. Naming only the seeded clubs in Qualifying Round 2 and clubs who start in Qualifying Round, Hapoel Be'er Sheva could have faced Slovan Liberec of Czech Republic (8.000), TSV Hartberg of Austria (6.585), Motherwell of Scotlan (5.575), or Anorthosis Famagusta of Cyprus (5.350). Of the 26 unseeded clubs, Motherwell has the fifth lowest coefficient, and Anorthosis Famagusta has the fourth lowest coefficient, so they had a 50 percent chance at facing one of those clubs. Hapoel Be'er Sheva will host Motherwell. Even if Motherwell is a little better than Anorthosis Famagusta, the advantage of hosting Motherwell is that they have to fly across Europe, whereas flying from Cyprus to Israel would have been quick if there were direct flights. Hapoel Be'er Sheva will be unseeded if they reach the Playoff Round unless a lot of seeded clubs lose in Qualifying Round 2 or 3, so I don't expect Hapoel Be'er Sheva to reach the Group Stage, but it was a good draw to get coefficient points in Qualifying Round 3.
In a game that was postponed two weeks ago, Zeljeznicar of Bosnia and Herzegovina took the lead in the 34th minute. Host Maccabi Haifa equalized in the 38th, scored in the 59th, and scored in the 66th to win 3-1. Maccabi Haifa dominated possession with 64 percent, shots (21 to 5), and shots on goal (9 to 4). In Qualifying Round 2 next Thursday they will host Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan.
On Wednesday at 1:00 P.M. USA Eastern, Maccabi Tel Aviv will host Dynamo Brest of Belarus, and the game will be on Eleven Sports USA. I don't think any Israeli clubs have been televised since Hapoel Be'er Sheva lost on away goals to Maribor of Slovenia in the 2017-2018 Champions League Playoff Round.
https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/match/2030323--m-tel-aviv-vs-dinamo-brest/ is UEFA's page for Maccabi Tel Aviv vs. Dinamo Brest tomorrow at 8:00 P.M. local/7:00 P.M. CET/1:00 P.M. USA Eastern. Maccabi Tel Aviv was last in the Group Stage in 2015-2016, and Dinamo Brest has never been in the Group Stage or qualifying before now. Dinamo Brest was third in the Belarusian Premier League in 1992, which was Belarus' first season after independence from the Soviet Union. That was their only top three finish until they were 2019 champions, which ended BATE Borisov's streak of 13 titles. Dinamo Brest's only three prior times in European competition came after winning cups. In the 2007-2008 UEFA Cup and 2017-2018 Europa League, they lost in the qualifying round they started in. In the 2018-2019 Europa League, they advanced over Atromitos of Greece 4-3 and 1-1 in Qualifying Round 2 to advance for the first time. In Qualifying Round 3 they were eliminated with a 4-0 loss at Apollon Limassol of Cyprus and a 1-0 win at home for a 4-1 aggregate.
Eleven Sports USA is showing a game from South Korea. Edit: It is scoreless at halftime. Maccabi Tel Aviv has the only 3 shots, of which only 1 was on goal, and the only yellow card in the 42nd minute. https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/match/2030323--m-tel-aviv-vs-dinamo-brest/ has commentary and lineups. The statistics says Maccabi Tel Aviv has 2 shots that were on goal (which could be missed or blocked), but I only see one shot not on goal in the commentary. The only shot on goal was in the 18th minute. Not allowing any shots is nice, but Maccabi Tel Aviv should be doing better. https://www.flashscore.com/match/tWD10tnU/#match-statistics;0 says they have 55 percent of the possession, 55 percent of the attacks, and 69 percent of the dangerous attacks. They don't have statistics for passes. Maccabi Tel Aviv has 1 more corner kick and Dynamo Brest has 1 more free kick for a total of 8 each. I make my own statistic of the sum of corner kicks and free kicks. The statistics show a game where Maccabi Tel Aviv could fail to score from 5 shots on goal and Dynamo Brest can win 1-0 with their only shot on goal. I'm not saying Maccabi Tel Aviv won't win, but they shouldn't assume they are going to score.
Maccabi Tel Aviv had a shot saved in the 49th minute. They got a corner kick from the save, and that led to a penalty kick goal that was Dan Bitton's first goal for Maccabi Tel Aviv. A Dynamo Brest player got a yellow for the foul. Dynamo Brest started shooting with 1 shot that was saved and 3 shots not on goal in the first 14 minutes of the second half. Maccabi Tel Aviv got their fourth shot on goal. From the 62nd to 63rd minutes, Dynamo Brest had a free kick and two corner kicks, but they didn't get any shots, and their possession ended by fouling. Maccabi Tel Aviv subbed on two players including Nick Blackman, who scored 3 goals in Maccabi Tel Aviv's first two qualifiers. He's from Barbados, and he's one of two Maccabi Tel Aviv players who have played or could play today who aren't Israeli. Maccabi Tel Aviv started Enric Saborit, who is Spanish. Dynamo Brest had a shot missed and a shot blocked. They had a corner kick that they wasted by being offside. With just over 70 minutes played, Maccabi Tel Aviv leads 1-0.
The timing of the Playoff Round draw was poor for Maccabi Tel Aviv. All four of the other seeded clubs lost today, so Maccabi Tel Aviv's coefficient ranks fourth of eight, so they would be seeded if the draw was upcoming. The draw was done based on the better club's coefficient in every Qualifying Round 3 game, and Maccabi Tel Aviv will face Red Bull Salzburg of Austria, who has the best coefficient of the clubs in the Playoff Round for champions.
Both Israeli clubs played at the same time, and I didn't check the scores until after the games were over. Maccabi Haifa, who was unseeded, won 2-1 hosting Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan. Maccabi Haifa scored in the 31st, allowed in the 45+1st, and scored the winning goal in the 72nd. Maccabi Haifa had 52 percent of possession and more shots on goal (5 to 3). Kairat Almaty had more shot (17 to 11), attacks (89 to 83), and dangerous attacks (62 to 43). At halftime, Hapoel Be'er Sheva, who was seeded, was scoreless at Laci of Albania. Hapoel Be'er Sheva had 58 percent of possession, more shots (6 to 2), and more shots on goal (1 to 0) at that point. In the 59th minute, Laci took the lead with what turned out to be their only shot on goal, so I would have been worried if I saw the score then. A Laci players got a yellow in the 33rd and ejected for a second yellow in the 86th. Hapoel Be'er Sheva scored in the 90+1st and 90+3rd to win 2-1. Hapoel Be'er Sheva had 59 percent of possession, more shots (15 to 3), more shots on goal (6 to 1), more combined free kicks and corner kicks (25 to 15), more attacks (113 to 70), and more dangerous attacks (87 to 29, which is triple). Combining that with Maccabi Tel Aviv's 1-0 win yesterday, all three Israeli clubs won by 1. In Europa League Qualifying Round 3, both games with Israeli clubs will have the seeded club at home. Hapoel Be'er Sheva should win hosting Motherwell of Scotland. Maccabi Haifa will go to Rostov of Russia. The draw for the Europa League Playoff Round is tomorrow. Hapoel Be'er Sheva and Maccabi Haifa will be unseeded if they reach it. Israel's 2.750 coefficient is second to Northern Ireland, but the top clubs haven't played yet.
If they beat Motherwell, Hapoel Be'er Sheva will host Viktoria Plzen of Czech Republic or SønderjyskE of Denmark. Viktoria Plzen has a 34.000 coefficient, which ranks eighth of the thirteen seeded clubs if all of them win in Qualifying Round 3, so that's the easier half. I don't expect Hapoel Be'er Sheva to reach the Group Stage, but it's possible. SønderjyskE has a 5.850 coefficient. If they beat Rostov, Maccabi Haifa will go to Tottenham of England or Shkendija Tetovo of North Macedonia. Tottenham's 85.000 coefficient is by far the best of the clubs in Europa League qualifying rounds and/or Playoff Round, and they are 45 percent higher than the next best club, which is Basel of Switzerland at 58.500. Shkendia Tetovo has a 7.250 coefficient. I wouldn't give Maccabi Haifa a chance at reaching the Group Stage regardless of their opponent, so I'm not mad about the draw. I'd rather them get a harder draw than Hapoel Be'er Sheva because Hapoel Be'er Sheva could reach the Group Stage.
After Maccabi Tel Aviv was in TV listings on Eleven Sports USA last week but not shown, tomorrow they will be on TUDN USA, which is Channel 1539 with Fios that I have. It will be at 10:00 P.M. local/9:00 P.M. CET/3:00 P.M. USA Eastern. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/sports/mac-ta-braces-for-clash-with-salzburg-643083 is titled "Mac TA braces for clash with Salzburg." It says "however, the yellow-and-blue will be shorthanded for the two-game series as a number of players and professional staff have contracted coronavirus, throwing the entire tie in doubt" without naming any players. It tells about some of Red Bull Salzburg's players. Red Bull Salzburg is coached by Jesse Marsch, who used to coach the New York Red Bulls, who I like. Even at full strength, I would be shocked if Maccabi Tel Aviv advanced, and with players missing tomorrow I expect them to lose at home and in Salzburg next Wednesday. I'm satisfied with them reaching the Europa League Group Stage, and I hope they don't have anybody miss Group Stage games because of coronavirus.
https://www.flashscore.com/match/AqTFZcyp/#lineups;1 doesn't list any missing players for Maccabi Tel Aviv, but it's obvious that they are missing players because they only have six possible subs, and they're at home so travel couldn't have been a problem. Eylon Haim Almog, who is age 21, is Maccabi Tel Aviv's only forward in their 5-4-1 formation, showing that they have to be very defensive at home. I hope they can lose the aggregate by fewer than the 5 goals that Hapoel Be'er Sheva lost by in 2018-2019 Qualifying Round 2 when they lost 5-0 at Dinamo Zagreb followed by 2-2 at home. https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/match/2029264--m-tel-aviv-vs-salzburg/ has comments by a reporter for each club. Maccabi Tel Aviv has five different starters than in last week's win over Dynamo Brest. Michael Oliver is the referee, and I know him from watching English Premier League games. The temperature is 28 degrees C, which is 82 degrees F.
Before I started watching, Dan Bitton scored in the 9th minute assisted by Eylon Haim Almog. He scored 5 goals in 21 league games for Ludogorets Razgrad of Bulgaria last season. As expected, Red Bull Salzburg (hereafter RBS) has better statistics with 56 percent of the possession, over double the shots (11 to 5), double the shots on goal (4 to 2), 64.7 percent of the attempted passes, 68.9 percent of the completed passes, (76.8 percent to 63.5 percent), 58.7 percent of the attacks, 68.8 percent of the dangerous attacks, and a higher percent of attacks that were dangerous (81.5 percent to 52.6 percent). 81.5 percent of a club's attacks being dangerous is extremely high. Possession percentage and attempted pass percentage are normally very close, but not for today's first half. That difference and the fact that statistics are being updated during halftime make me say that what I posted may not be accurate, but I posted it anyway. Good things for Maccabi Tel Aviv were one moree free kick (7 to 6) and no cards for either club. I don't want Maccabi Tel Aviv to have to try holding on while down a man.
Red Bull Salzburg scored on a penalty kick in the 49th minute and the winning goal in the 57th minute to win 2-1. Each club had 7 shots on goal in the second half, which made 11 for RBS and 9 for Maccabi Tel Aviv. In Europa League Qualifying Round 3 on Thursday, Maccabi Haifa is at Rostov of Russia at 7:30 P.M. Israel/6:30 P.M. CET/12:30 P.M. USA Eastern, and Hapoel Be'er Sheva starts one hour later hosting Motherwell of Scotland.