Both Israeli clubs had great days. The first time I checked the score, Maccabi Haifa was 1-1 at halftime at Rostov of Russia. Maccabi Haifa had more shots on goals (2 to 1) and 52 percent of the possession, so it's not like Rostov was playing great without leading. Maccabi Haifa scored in the 60th minute. In the 69th minute, Danil Glebov got a straight red for a foul with his leg above the ground. Rostov got a straight red, but no yellows, which must be unusual. Maccabi Haifa didn't score while up a man, but they didn't need to, and they won 2-1. Maccabi Haifa had 64 percent of the possession in the second half to finish with 58 percent. Rostov had more dangerous attacks (90 to 76), and more shots (11 to 9), but Maccabi Haifa had more shots on goal (6 to 2). Maccabi Haifa had more free kicks (13 to 8), and more corner kicks (6 to 4). Maccabi Haifa got the only two yellows, and Rostov had the only three offsides. I expected Hapoel Be'er Sheva to win hosting Motherwell of Scotland, and they did. Miguel Vitor scored in the 43rd minute. Motherwell's Declan Gallagher got cards in the 69th and 70th minutes to get sent off and concede a penalty, which Josue scored in the 71st. Hapoel Be'er Sheva scored in the 83rd minute and won 3-0. Possession was 50 percent each, and Motherwell had slightly more attacks and dangerous attacks. Hapoel Be'er Sheva had double the shots (12 to 6), and double the shots on goal (4 to 2). Free kicks (18 for Hapoel Be'er Sheva and 5 for Motherwell), corner kicks (2 for Motherwell and 1 for Hapoel Be'er Sheva), and yellow cards (5 for Hapoel Be'er Sheva and 4 including a second yellow for Motherwell) were close. I was able to listen to the end of the game. https://www.skysports.com/football/live-blog/11959/12080519/europa-league-qualifying-live is about Tottenham and the four Scottish clubs playing today. I care about two of those games. In addition to Hapoel Be'er Sheva's win over Motherwell, Maccabi Haifa will go to the winner of Shkendija Tetovo of North Macedonia vs. Tottenham. Tottenham scored in the 5th minute and led 1-0 at halftime, but they allowed a goal in the 55th minute. Tottenham subbed on several players including Harry Kane. Heung-Min Son scored in the 70th minute and assisted on Kane's goal in the 80th minute. In the Europa League Playoff Round, Hapoel Be'er Sheva will host Viktoria Plzen of Czech Republic, who won 3-0 hosting Sonderjyske of Denmark. Viktoria Plzen had much better statistics, but they committed more fouls (20 to 11). Maccabi Haifa will go to Tottenham, who leads 3-1 in the 89th minute.
Israel leads all countries with a 3.500 so far this season. For the last four complete seasons and some of the season, Israel is 21st of 55 with 20.875. Israel is one of 15 countries with at least 3 clubs left, and none of the countries behind Israel have 3 clubs left. In 2014-2015 and 2015-2016, Israel got 1.375 and 2.250 for a sum of 3.625. Now those seasons dropped out, and Israel has almost 3.625 before any Group Stages. I wouldn't be surprised if all three Israeli clubs lose next week, but Maccabi Tel Aviv will go to the Europa League Group Stage. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/sports/maccabi-tel-aviv-cant-hold-on-vs-salzburg-643332 is titled "Maccabi Tel Aviv can’t hold on vs Salzburg." It says Maccabi Tel Aviv had six starters out with coronavirus. We'll see if some or all of them play next week. Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020–...fying_phase_and_play-off_round#Play-off_round has the groups for the Europa League Playoff Round draw. Hapoel Be'er Sheva got a hard group as Basel (second with 58.500), Besiktas (thirds with 54.000), and Viktoria Plzen (eighth with 34.000) were two of the top three and a club toward the middle of the thirteen seeded clubs. Given that group, hosting Viktoria Plzen was the easiest draw. Maccabi Haifa could have faced Tottenham (first with 85.000), APOEL Nicosia (ninth with 27.500), Galatasaray (tenth with 23.500), or Standard Liege (thirteenth which is last with 20.500), so going to Tottenham is the hardest draw any club could have gotten. When the draw was made, I didn't complain because I thought Maccabi Haifa would lose at Rostov.
I took the mean of five odds for Red Bull Salzburg vs. Hapoel Be'er Sheva on Wednesday. They produced these probabilities: Red Bull Salzburg win: 80.47 percent Draw: 13.46 percent Hapoel Be'er Sheva win: 6.07 percent
Tottenham has been in the last four Champions League Group Stages and the Champions League or Europa League Group Stage for ten consecutive seasons. One good thing for Maccabi Haifa is that without fans, a trip to Tottenham or any other club with a much higher attendance than any Israeli club isn't as hard. Another good thing is that Tottenham has three games in five days with a Premier League game on Sunday, a Carabao (League) Cup game on Tuesday, and the Europa League Playoff Round against Maccabi Haifa on Thursday. The Carabao Cup game is against Chelsea, so it's not against a club that Tottenham can rest starters and beat. https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/2020/september/kf-shkendija-v-spurs-match-report/ says "the victory sets up a first home match in this season’s Europa League as we now face Maccabi Haifa in the play-off round at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next Thursday, after the Israeli outfit beat Rostov 2-1 in Russia earlier on Thursday."
Red Bull Salzburg won 3-1. They had more shots on goal (10 to 3). Maccabi Tel Aviv had a 37 percent of the possession in the second half to finish with 47 percent. Salzburg scored the winning goal on a penalty kick in first half stoppage time, and they had 7 of their 10 shots on goal in the first half. The aggregate was 5-2. Maccabi Tel Aviv will be in Pot 3 for Friday's Europa League Group Stage draw.
Two Israeli clubs are going to the Group Stage. In addition to Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Beer Sheva (14.000 coefficient) won 1-0 hosting Viktoria Plzen (34.000 coefficient) of Czech Republic. I checked the score at halftime when it was 1-0, but I didn't check when the goal was until 3:22 P.M. my time, which is right after it ended. Josue scored a penalty kick in the 4th minute. Hapoel Beer Sheva led in possession (52 percent) shots on goal (5 to 3), corner kicks (7 to 4), and free kicks (20 to 16). The statistic I made up of combined free kicks and corner kicks was 27 to 20, which was 57.4 percent for Hapoel Beer Sheva. Viktoria Plzen had 1 more shot (10 to 9), 1 fewer yellow card (2 to 3), more attacks (84 to 73, 53.5 percent), more dangerous attacks (72 to 49, 59.5 percent), and a higher percent of attacks that were dangerous (72/84 = 85.7 percent to 49/73 = 67.1 percent). 85.7 percent of a club's attacks being dangerous is extremely high. To get in Pot 3 for the Group Stage draw, Hapoel Beer Sheva needed at least 3 clubs with better coefficients to lose, and https://kassiesa.net/uefa/seedel2020.html is my source. One loss was Viktoria Plzen, who would have been in Pot 2. Another Czech club helped Hapoel Beer Sheva out, as Slovan Liberec (8.000 coefficient) won 1-0 hosting APOEL Nicosia (27.500 coefficient) of Cyprus. The game was scoreless until a Slovan Liberec corner kick led to a handball, which led to a penalty kick for the only goal in the 90+5th minute. That game started half an hour before Hapoel Beer Sheva, so when Hapoel Beer Sheva won they only needed help from one more game. They got it when Rijeka (11.000 coefficient) of Croatia won 1-0 at FC Copenhagen (42.000 coefficient) of Denmark, with the only goal being an own goal. That game started half an hour after Hapoel Beer Sheva. The games still in progress include LASK (14.000 coefficient) of Austria leading 2-1 at Sporting Lisbon (50.000 coefficient) of Portugal. Sporting Lisbon and FC Copenhagen would have been in Pot 1. Because they had a better coefficient last season than Hapoel Beer Sheva, LASK wins the coefficient tiebreaker, but them beating Sporting Lisbon means Hapoel Beer Sheva and LASK will be in Pot 3. Star Harry Kane gave Tottenham the lead in the 2nd minute hosting Maccabi Haifa. Tjarron Chery equalized in the 17th minute. He's Dutch, and he scored 15 goals in 34 games for Groningen in the Dutch Eredivisie in 2014-2015. In 2018-2019, he scored 9 goals in 33 games for Kayserispor in the Turkish Super Lig. 2019-2020 was his first season for Maccabi Haifa, and he scored 10 goals in 36 games. Lucas gave Tottenham the lead in the 21st minute, and Giovani Lo Celso scored in the 37th and 40th minutes. Tottenham led 4-1 at halftime. Nikita Rukavytsya made it closer with a penalty kick in the 51st minute. He's in his fifth season for Maccabi Haifa, although he played 4, 10, and 14 games in his first three seasons for them. Last season he scored 22 goals in 36 games, with led Ligat Ha'al by far. In 2011-2012, he scored 1 goal for Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga. Harry Kane has a hat trick, as he scored a penalty kick in the 55th minute and in the 74th minute. Tottenham leads 6-2, and I will post again with the final score and statistics. Edit: Another club who would have been in Pot 1 lost. Basel (58.500 coefficient) of Switzerland blew a lead and lost 3-1 hosting CSKA Sofia (4.000 coefficient) of Bulgaria. CSKA Sofia scored the winning goal in the 88th minute and their third goal in the 90+7th minute. Of the 16 clubs in the Main Path, that was the second best coefficient against the second worst coefficient. Tottenham (85.000 coefficient) hosting Maccabi Haifa (3.925 coefficient) was the best coefficient against the worst coefficient.
Dele Alli scored a penalty kick in the 90+1st minute, and Tottenham won 7-2. Tottenham had 54 percent of the possession, more shots (20 to 14), more shots on goal (12 to 6), and more free kicks (11 to 6). Corner kicks (4 each) and yellow cards (0) were equal. Maccabi Haifa had 1 more attack (117 to 116), and 60.5 percent of the dangerous attacks (46 to 30). Tottenham got 2/3rds (0.67) shots per dangerous attack, and exactly 0.4 shots on goal per dangerous attack, which are both very high. Maccabi Haifa got 0.30 shots per dangerous attack and 0.13 shots on goal per dangerous attack. Maccabi Haifa scored more goals than 23 of the other 38 clubs in Europa League games that are over. The 21 games had 19 other games that are over and Rio Ave leading AC Milan 2-1 in extra time. LASK of Austria won 4-1 at Sporting Lisbon of Portugal, and LASK is the only club other than Tottenham to score at least 4 goals today. If Rio Ave vs. AC Milan finishes with 4 or fewer goals, Tottenham vs. Maccabi Haifa's 9 combined goals will be as many as the next two highest combined. Sporting Lisbon vs. LASK at had 5, and several games had 4. If neither Rio Ave nor AC Milan reaches 4 goals, Harry Kane will have scored at least as many as 40 of the other 41 clubs.
Hapoel Beer Sheva will be in Group C with Bayer Leverkusen (61.000 coefficient that is sixth in Pot 1) of Germany, Slavia Prague (27.500 coefficient that is third in Pot 2) of Czech Republic, and Nice (11.849 coefficient that is tied for second in Pot 4 with fellow French club Lille) of France. Nice has 10.000 points on their own, so they get the 11.849 minimum for France. Clubs used to get their only points plus a fraction of their country's coefficient that was one-third at one time and one-fifth when the method was changed. Now clubs get their own points or the minimum from their country without any of them of them added, which is why so many clubs have whole numbers or ending in .500. All clubs whose points are more than the minimum for their country have round amounts like that. In the five seasons from 2016-2017 through 2020-2021, Hapoel Beer Sheva has faced or will face the top three Czech clubs of Sparta Prague in the 2016-2017 Europa League Group Stage, Viktoria Plzen in the 2017-2018 Europa League Group Stage and the Europa League Playoff Round yesterday, and Slavia Prague. Maccabi Tel Aviv will be in Group I with Villarreal (56.000 coefficient that is seventh in Pot 1) of Spain, Qarabag (21.000 coefficient that is tied for ninth in Pot 2) of Azerbaijan, and Sivasspor (6.720 coefficient that is ninth in Pot 4) of Turkey. Sivasspor wasn't in UEFA competitions in the last five seasons, so they have the minimum for a Turkish club. Maccabi Tel Aviv got a worse opponent in each pot, and Maccabi Tel Aviv's 16.500 is higher than Hapoel Beer Sheva's 14.000, so the coefficients say Maccabi Tel Aviv is more likely to advance. On the other hand, Hapoel Beer Sheva beat Viktoria Plzen who has a better coefficient than Pot 2 opponent Slavia Prague, and Maccabi Tel Aviv didn't face any notable clubs until they lost both games to Red Bull Salzburg. There's a good chance that one or both of them have their fate determined on the last matchday. Israeli clubs will face clubs from three of the top five leagues. Group I will have three clubs in eastern Europe or geographically in Asia.
Both Israeli clubs host Pot 2 clubs on Thursday. Maccabi Tel Aviv is favored. They play at 10:00 P.M. Israel/9:00 P.M. CET/3:00 P.M. USA Eastern. Hapoel Beer Sheva plays at 7:55 P.M. Israel/6:55 P.M. CET/12:55 P.M. USA Eastern. I looked at the odds from https://www.smartbets.com/football/hapoel-beer-sheva-sk-slavia-praha/ for Hapoel Beer Sheva vs. Slavia Prague and for https://www.smartbets.com/football/maccabi-tel-aviv-qarabag/ for Maccabi Tel Aviv vs. Qarabag. Hapoel Beer Sheva's game had six odds, and Maccabi Tel Aviv's game had five odds. More odds could be released later, but I won't check. For both games I took the mean of the odds and converted it into probabilities: Hapoel Beer Sheva win: 24.2 percent Draw: 27.9 percent Slavia Prague win: 47.9 percent Maccabi Tel Aviv win: 49.7 percent Draw: 27.7 percent Qarabag win: 22.5 percent The odds add up to 99.9 percent due to rounding. The odds are close to opposites.
Slavia Prague of Czech Republic had the first 8 shots. Hapoel Beer Sheva's first shot was on goal and scored in the 45th minute. Slavia Prague equalized in the 75th minute. Elton Acolatse scored in the 86th and 88th minutes and was subbed off in the 89th minute. Hapoel Beer Sheva scored with their only shots on goal of a 3-1 win. Slavia Prague had 69 percent of the possession, 82.6 percent of the shots (19 to 4), 72.7 percent of the shots on goals (8 to 3), 55.3 percent of the free kicks (21 to 17), 90 percent of the corner kicks (9 to 1) 62.5 percent of the free kicks and corner kicks combined (30 to 18), 68.8 percent of the total passes (572 to 259), 73.4 percent of the completed passes (472 to 171), a higher pass completion percentage (472/572 = 82.5 percent compared to 171/259 = 66.0 percent), 76.4 percent of the attacks (181 to 56), 86.3 percent of the dangerous attacks (88 to 14), a higher percent of attacks that were dangerous (88/181 = 48.6 percent is almost double 14/56 = 25 percent), and 51.9 percent of the throw-ins (27 to 25). Each club was offside 4 times. Hapoel Beer Sheva had 56.7 percent of the fouls (17 to 13) and 80 percent of the yellow cards (4 to 1). Next Thursday Hapoel Beer Sheva goes to Nice of France, who was in Pot 4. Slavia Prague hosts Bayer Leverkusen of Germany, who was in Pot 1. Bayer Leverkusen won 6-2 hosting Nice to be in first on goal differential, and they had five players score. Maccabi Tel Aviv won 1-0 hosting Qarabag of Azerbaijan. Yonatan Cohen scored the only goal in the 10th minute. Yonatan is a similar name to Jonathan, and one of my mom's friends' sons is Jonathan Cohen. The Cohens I know are religious Jews. The statistics were close. Qarabag had 56 percent of the possession, MTA had 53.3 percent of the shots (8 to 7), each club had 3 shots on goal, MTA had 55.1 percent of the free kicks (27 to 22), each club had 4 corner kicks, MTA had 54.9 percent of the free kicks and corner kicks combined, Qarabag had 2 offsides to 1 by MTA, Qarabag had 54.3 percent of the throw-ins (25 to 21), each club had the same amount of throw-ins and fouls, each club had 4 yellow cards, Qarabag had 52.3 percent of the attempted passes, Qarabag had 52.8 percent of the completed passes, Qarabag had a higher pass completion percentage (358/464 = 77.5 percent to 320/421 = 76.0 percent), MTA had 52.0 percent of the attacks (119 to 110), MTA had 51.5 percent of the dangerous attacks (34 to 32), and Qarabag had a higher higher percent of attacks that were dangerous (32/110 = 29.1 percent to 34/119 = 28.6 percent). Villarreal of Spain won 5-3 hosting Sivasspor of Turkey, who was in Pot 4. Of the 48 clubs who played in the Europa League today, the only clubs to score more than 4 were the Pot 1 clubs in groups with Israeli clubs. Next Thursday Maccabi Tel Aviv goes to Sivasspor, who is last on goal differential, and Qarabag hosts Villarreal. I don't know if this is true for all of the groups, but both groups with Israeli clubs had the Israeli club in Pot 3 start by hosting the Pot 2 club and then go to the Pot 4 club. In the country and club coefficients, Group Stage wins are worth 2 points. Israeli clubs got 4 points divided by 4 Israeli clubs in UEFA competition = 1.000, which increased their season total to 5.000. That leads all countries. Scotland entered today tied with Israel at 4.000 and had Rangers win and Celtic lose. Hungary also entered tied with a 4.000, but their only club left is Ferencvaros, who lost at Barcelona in the Champions League. Ferencvaros has the lowest club coefficient by a club in the last five Champions League Group Stages. Of the four countries that get four Champions League clubs and seven total clubs, England is second with 4.785, Italy is fourth with 4.428, Spain is fifth with 4.214, and Germany is sixth with 4.071. England will probably take the lead next week. Israel can get only 1 point per week because two of their four clubs are eliminated. England has all seven clubs left. Even if Hapoel Beer Sheva and Maccabi Tel Aviv both win next week to get Israel up to 6.000, England would pass Israel if they get at least 9 of a possible 14 points. That means if English clubs get at least 5 wins, at least 4 wins and at least 1 draw, at least 3 wins and at least 3 draws, or 2 wins and 5 draws, England will pass Israel. Israel increased their sum for this season and the last four complete seasons to 22.375. They moved up to 20th by passing Czech Republic, who went up to 22.000. Czech Republic has three clubs left. Of the two other than Slavia Prague, one club won and one club lost. Czech Republic started with five clubs, so each win is 2/5 = 0.400 toward their country coefficient, and each win is 1/5 = 0.200 toward their country coefficient. Israel is 0.100 behind Croatia, who has two clubs left, and 1.100 behind Switzerland, who only has Young Boys left. Other than Czech Republic, no country can pass Israel. Sweden is 1.875 behind Israel but has all of their clubs eliminated. Bulgaria is 3.000 behind Israel with two clubs remaining. If Israeli clubs get four more wins, which could all come against Pot 4 clubs, Israel will be up to 7.000, which will be their highest since. Israel had a 5.625 in 2017-2018 and a 6.750 in 2016-2017.
In the Group Stage long highlights are available: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/sports/maccabi-tel-aviv-kicks-off-group-stage-vs-qarabag-646492 is titled "Maccabi Tel Aviv kicks off group stage vs Qarabag." It states that the name Qarabag Agdam, which I have seen, is because they used to play in Agdam. Due to ongoing conflict with Armenia, Agdam is inaccessible. In 1993 a game had a one hour delay when the stadium was attacked by a mortar. They now play in Baku, which is the capital of Azerbaijan. They have won seven consecutive titles, and this is their sixth consecutive Group Stage appearance. They were in the 2017-2018 Champions League and five times in the Europa League. In 2017-2018 they had blowout losses by 4 and 6, two losses by 1, and points from 1-1 and 0-0 draws with Atletico Madrid, who often succeeds in the Knockout Rounds but finished third in that group behind AS Roma and Chelsea. The article didn't preview the game in terms of Qarabag's players or mention Hapoel Beer Sheva's game. I hope they will recap the games at some point. I can read Hebrew if it has vowels, but I don't know what it means in English, and I don't go to sites in Hebrew because browser translations of websites can have flaws. The Jerusalem Post is my only pro-Israeli source to read about Israeli clubs.
Here are highlights in Spanish, which I will watch because I like the long "goooool" calls: I would have posted highlights from TV in Israel if I found them, but I didn't.
Sivasspor of Turkey 1-2 Maccabi Tel Aviv The first time in the second half that I checked the score was when when Sivasspor scored in the 55th minute. Maccabi Tel Aviv had 2 shots with none on goal at that time. The turning point was a 67th minute straight red for tripping by a player who got a yellow for tripping two minutes earlier. It led to a 69th minute penalty kick that Dan Biton scored. Dor Peretz scored the winner in the 74th minute. Including stoppage time, there was about 20 more minutes with Maccabi Tel Aviv up a man without them scoring, but they didn't need to score. Maccabi Tel Aviv had 52 percent of the possession, 57.2 percent of the total passes, and 58.6 percent of the completed passes. Normally the percent of possession and total passes are extremely close like within 1 percent. I gave a decimal place for passes but not possession because I have the amount of passes but not amount of possession to calculate that exactly. Sivasspor had more attacks and dangerous attacks, so they had a much higher percent of their passes be part of attacks. Maccabi Tel Aviv had 1 fewer shot, 9 to 8, and 1 more shot on goal, 3 to 2, so Maccabi Tel Aviv had a higher percentage of their dangerous attacks result in shots. Maccabi Tel Aviv had double the free kicks, 20 to 10. Sivasspor had 6 yellows and a straight red to Maccabi Tel Aviv's 2 yellows. Maccabi Tel Aviv is second with 6 points and a +2. Next week they host first place Villarreal of Spain, who won 5-3 hosting Sivasspor and 3-1 at Qarabag to have 6 points and a +4. Sivasspor and Qarabag both have no points and -3, and Sivasspor is in third from the goals scored tiebreaker, with 4 scored and 7 allowed compared to Qarabag (of Azerbaijan)'s 1 scored and 4 allowed. The first tiebreaker in the Champions League and Europa League is head-to-head, but both pairs of tied clubs haven't played each other. Nice of France 1-0 Hapoel Beer Sheva Nice dominated possession, passes, and attacks. Nice had more shots (11 to 7), and more shots on goal (4 to 2). Hapoel Beer Sheva had 2 more free kicks and 2 fewer corner kicks, and each club had 18 combined. Hapoel Beer Sheva had more yellows, 4 to 2. The only goal was in the 23rd minute. Slavia Prague of Czech Republic won 1-0 hosting Bayer Leverkusen of Germany, who got a straight red in the 22nd minute, and Czech fans said it shouldn't have been a straight red. All the clubs have 1 win and 1 loss. The goal differentials are symmetrical with Bayer have 6 scored and 3 allowed, Hapoel with 3 scored and 2 allowed, Slavia with 2 scored and 3 allowed, and Nice with 3 scored and 6 allowed. Next week Hapoel Beer Sheva hosts Bayer and Slavia hosts Nice. I'm only going to watch highlights of wins or draws by Israeli clubs, but here are long highlights for both games: Israel got 2 country coefficient points/4 clubs = 0.5 today to improve their 2020-2021 coefficient to 5.500. Israel moved up to 19th by passing Croatia. For the last four complete seasons and this season so far, Israel has 22.875, Croatia has 22.675, and Czech Republic has 22.400. Croatia and Czech Republic both started with 5 clubs, so each win is worth 0.5 for Israel compared to 0.4 for the other two, and each draw is worth 0.25 for Israel compared to 0.2 for the other two. Israel is 0.850 behind 18th place Switzerland, whose only remaining club is Young Boys in the Europa League. Israel fell from first to forth for this season so far. England is up to 6.500, Spain has 5.642, and Italy has 5.571. Germany is sixth with 5.071, and they could pass Israel next week. Israel's 5.500 is tied for their ninth best season ever. If they get a draw and a loss next week, they will be tied for seventh in Israel's history with a 5.750. If they get one win and one loss or draws, they will be in a three-way tie for fourth with 6.000. If they get two wins or one win and one draw, they will have sole possession of Israel's fourth best coefficient ever.
While the score was 1-1, Sivasspor shot from a little outside the six yard box off the crossbar and back in play. Maccabi Tel Aviv's winning goal was when Dor Peretz had his shot saved and scored on the rebound.
For the first time this season, no Israeli club won in the Champions League or Europa League (including the qualifying rounds for each one) this week. Hapoel Beer Sheva led 2-1 hosting Bayer Leverkusen of Germany, but Bayer Leverkusen won 4-2. Maccabi Tel Aviv lost 4-0 at Villarreal in a game that started late due to weather. National teams play, so the next two weeks don't have Europa League games. Matchday 4 in three weeks has the same opponents as Matchday 3 at the opposite sites, so that will probably be two more losses for Israeli clubs. The next chance at wins or draws will be in four weeks. Israel's country coefficient for this season remained at 5.500, which is down to fifth. England is first, Spain is second, Germany is third, and Italy is fourth. Four the last four complete seasons and this season so far, Israel fell two spots to 21st. Czech Republic went from 22.400 to 23.200. Croatia passed Israel and got passed by Czech Republic, so Croatia remained in 20th. Croatia gained 0.250 to go from 22.825 to 23.075. Israel remained at 22.875. The top country behind Israel who still has clubs competing is Bulgaria. Their 19.625 is 3.250 behind Israel. In between in 22nd is Sweden, who has a 20.500 without any clubs left.
Maccabi Tel Aviv 1-1 Villarreal The goals were close together if you ignore halftime. Alex Baena gave Villarreal the lead in the 45th, and Aleksandar Pesic equalized in the 47th. Baena got between the defenders and had an easy shot. Pesic also scored from near the goal, but after two headers, he kicked it in the air to get it past two defenders and the goalkeeper. Maccabi Tel Aviv's Enric Saborit got a straight red in the 89th. Ruben Pena had shoulder-to-shoulder contact. With play stopped, Pena pushed Saborit in the back and got a yellow. Saborit retaliated with a hand behind him to Pena's face. Maccabi Tel Aviv made two subs in stoppage time, and luckily Villarreal was unable to take advantage of their man advantage before the end. Villarreal had 64 percent of the possession, and their percent of total passes, completed passes, attacks, and dangerous attacks were less than that. Maccabi Tel Aviv had more free kicks, 15 to 8; and Villarreal had more corner kicks, 9 to 4. Maccabi Tel Aviv had a higher sum, 19 to 17. Villarreal had 2 more shots, 10 to 8; and 2 more shots on goal, 3 to 1. Allowing only 1 goal and 3 shots on goal is great. It was the first game Villarreal didn't win. They're in first with 10 points and +8. Pot 4 club Sivasspor won 3-2 at Pot 2 club Qarabag, and Qarabag has lost all 4 games and is eliminated. They have a -6. Maccabi Tel Aviv is in second with 7 points and -2. Sivasspor is third with 6 points and +0. Maccabi Tel Aviv has the much easier remaining schedule. Next week Maccabi Tel Aviv goes to Qarabag, and Sivasspor hosts Villarreal. Even if Maccabi Tel Aviv loses and Sivasspor wins, Maccabi Tel Aviv would advance if they win their last game hosting Sivasspor. If Villarreal and Maccabi Tel Aviv win next week, the top two in either order will be clinched before the last game. Villarreal has almost clinched, but they haven't. Since they have the head-to-head tiebreaker over Maccabi Tel Aviv, Maccabi Tel Aviv needs at least 4 points to pass Villarreal. The only way Villarreal doesn't advance is if they lose both games including losing by Sivasspor by enough to lose the head-to-head tiebreaker, and Maccabi Tel Aviv and Sivasspor draw. In that case Maccabi Tel Aviv would be in first with 11, Sivasspor and Villarreal would have 10, and Qarabag would have 3 with a win at Villarreal on Matchday 6. Villarreal will advance, but I wanted to say the hypothetical way that they won't.
Bayer Leverkusen 4-1 Hapoel Beer Sheva Bayer Leverkusen had 75 percent of the possession and a higher percent of shots, shots on goal, total passes, completed passes, and dangerous attacks. Shots were 20 to 4, and shots on goal were 8 to 1. Itamar Shviro scored in the 58th to go down 2-1. A Bayer Leverkusen defender passed it horizontally to another defender. The pass was way too soft considering the distance between defenders, and Shviro intercepted and scored. Hapoel didn't have any shots on goal that weren't from big defensive mistakes. Israel got 0.250 coefficient today to go up to 5.750 for the season. Israel remained tied with Scotland, and they went from tied for fifth to tied for sixth because Netherlands moved up to 5.800. For the last five complete seasons and this season so far, Israel remained 21st and fell farther behind Croatia and Czech Republic.
Tomorrow at 7:55 P.M. Israel/6:55 P.M. Central European Time/12:55 P.M. USA Eastern, Maccabi Tel Aviv (7 points) is at Qarabag (0 points), and Sivasspor (6 points) hosts Villarreal (10 points). If Maccabi Tel Aviv wins and Sivasspor loses, Maccabi Tel Aviv advances. If Maccabi Tel Aviv ends the day with the same amount of points as Sivasspor or 1 to 3 more points, Maccabi Tel Aviv will need a draw hosting Sivasspor next week, which is the last matchday, to advance. If Maccabi Tel Aviv wins hosting Sivasspor, Maccabi Tel Aviv advances even if tomorrow goes as badly as possible. Tomorrow at 10:00 P.M. Israel/9:00 P.M. Central European Time/3:00 P.M. USA Eastern, Hapoel Beer Sheva (3 points) is at Slavia Prague (9 points) and Nice (3 points) hosts Bayer Leverkusen (9 points). After starting by winning hosting Slavia Prague, Hapoel Beer Sheva lost their last three, and they are in last because Nice has the head-to-head tiebreaker so far. Hapoel Beer Sheva cannot pass Bayer Leverkusen because Bayer Leverkusen won both head-to-head games. To advance, Hapoel Beer Sheva must win at Slavia Prague tomorrow, win hosting Nice next week, and have Slavia Prague lose at Bayer Leverkusen next week. In that case, Hapoel Beer Sheva and Slavia Prague would each have 3 wins and 3 losses, and Hapoel Beer Sheva would advance because they would have won both head-to-head games. Hapoel Beer Sheva must win tomorrow to avoid elimination.
Qarabag 1-1 Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv had big or small advantages in most statistics. They had 56 percent of the possession, 1 more combined free kick and corner kick (20 to 19), 57.0 percent of the total passes (585 to 442), 59.2 percent of the completed passes (504 to 348), 53.5 percent of the attacks (114 to 99), and 86.2 percent of their passes completed compared to 78.7 percent for Qarabag. As big advantages they had two-thirds of the shots (16 to 8), 72.7 percent of the shots on goal (8 to 3), two-thirds of the throw-ins (26 to 13), 74.5 percent of the dangerous attacks (73 to 25), and the percent of attacks that were dangerous was over 2.5 times Qarabag's percentage (73/114 = 64.0 percent to 25/99 = 25.3 percent). Maccabi Tel Aviv had 48 percent of the possession in the first half and 64 percent in the second half, but they had more shots in the first half (9 to 7), and 4 shots on goal in each half. Yonatan Cohen scored a penalty kick in the 22nd minute, and he scored both of Maccabi Tel Aviv's goals against Qarabag combining today with Matchday 1. His penalty kick wen in the inside side netting so it could not be saved by the goalkeeper who went the right way. Qarabag's goal went in a similar place. From a little outside the 18 yard box, it hit the inside of the post and went in. It was by Jaime Romero in the 37th minute. In the other game, Villarreal won 1-0 at Sivasspor. Maccabi Tel Aviv would have advanced with a win, and with a draw it didn't matter of Sivasspor got a draw or loss as long as they didn't win. The standings are Villarreal with 13, Maccabi with 8, Sivasspor with 6, and Qarabag with 1. Maccabi Tel Aviv needs a win or draw hosting Sivasspor next week. Villarreal won the group, Qarabag finished last, and their game next week is irrelevant to all clubs other than for coefficients. Maccabi Tel Aviv's draw is 0.250 points to give Israel 6.000 for this season. Hapoel Beer Sheva must win at Slavia Prague to stay alive. They are scoreless in the 9th minute.
Slavia Prague 3-0 Hapoel Beer Sheva Hapoel Beer Sheva is eliminated. I wonder how many clubs in a Champions League or secondary competition in any confederation have won their first Group Stage game and lost their next four. Hapoel Beer Sheva ends hosting Pot 4 club Nice, so hopefully Hapoel Beer Sheva will win next week. Bayer Leverkusen won 3-2 at Nice. Israel is down to eighth for season with a 6.000. For the last four complete seasons and this season, Israel is 21st with 23.375. After next week we will know the 48 clubs in the Champions League and Europa League Knockout Rounds and what countries had all their clubs eliminated in Group Stages. The Champions League Round of 16 and Europa League Round of 32 will be drawn on Monday December 14.
Hapoel Beer Sheva 1-0 Nice (France) Rotem Hatuel scored the only goal in the 72nd minute. Nice had 57 percent of the possession, 65 percent of the shots (13 to 7), 57.5 percent of the total passes (566 to 419), exactly 59.75 percent of the completed passes (478 to 322), a higher completion percentage (478/566 = 84.5 percent to 322/419 = 76.8 percent), 68.7 percent of the attacks (158 to 72), 63.4 percent of the dangerous attacks (71 to 41), and one-third of the yellow cards (4 for Hapoel Beer Sheva and 2 for Nice). Hapoel Beer Sheva had a higher percent of attacks that were dangerous (41/72 = 56.9 percent to 71/158 = 44.9 percent). Free kicks (13 each) and corner kicks (4 for Nice and 3 for Hapoel Beer Sheva) were close. Hapoel Beer Sheva led in shots on goal (3 to 2) with each club making 2 saves. Allowing so many passes and attacks but only 2 shots on goal is good. There weren't any penalty kicks or red cards. In the other game, Bayer Leverkusen of Germany won 4-0 hosting Slavia Prague of Czech Republic to win the group. There weren't any draws. Hapoel Beer Sheva avoided finishing last, and 6 points is fine for a Pot 3 club. The standings finished: Bayer Leverkusen: 15 points, 21 goals scored, 8 goals allowed, +13 Slavia Prague: 12 points, 11 goals scored, 10 goals allowed, +1 Hapoel Beer Sheva: 6 points, 7 goals scored, 13 goals allowed, -6 Nice: 3 points, 8 goals scored, 16 goals allowed, -8 The clubs finished in the order of their seeds. Bayer Leverkusen led all clubs with 21 goals. Of the clubs currently playing, the most goals is 15 by fellow German club Hoffenheim, so it's very unlikely that another club will tie or exceed Bayer Leverkusen. Arsenal of England is the only club to have a perfect record, which none of the clubs playing now have, and they scored 20. Maccabi Tel Aviv needs to win or draw hosting Sivasspor of Turkey to advance, and they're scoreless late in the first half. The other game in the group was postponed because Qarabag of Azerbaijan has so many players with coronavirus that they don't have players to play at Villarreal of Spain. Villarreal will finish with tied for the second most points of the 48 clubs if they win on the field or Qarabag forfeits. Hoffenheim leads 2-0 and will finish with 16 points if they hold on. Villarreal won the group and Qarabag finished last, so it doesn't matter if the game is played.
Maccabi Tel Aviv 1-0 Sivasspor of Turkey Enric Saborit scored the only goal in the 66th minute. The statistics were similar to Hapoel Beer Sheva's game: Minute of only goal: HBS 72nd, MTA 66th Shots for and allowed: HBS 7-13. MTA 4-10 Shots on goal and allowed: HBS 3-2, MTA 2-1 Free kicks for and allowed: HBS 13-13, MTA 18-8 Corner kicks for and allowed: HBS 3-4, MTA 1-3 Possession: HBS 43 percent, MTA 41 percent Percent of total passes: HBS 42.5, MTA 43.5 Percent of completed passes: HBS exactly 40.25, MTA 42.5 Completion percentage for and allowed: HBS 76.8-84.5, MTA exactly 75.25-78.5 Percent of attacks: HBS 31.3, MTA 39.4 Percent of dangerous attacks: HBS 36.6, MTA 37.3 In the likely event that Villarreal of Spain wins hosting Qarabag of Azerbaijan on the field or via forfeit, they will have 16 points, MTA will have 11, Sivasspor will have 6, and Qarabag will have 1. The Round of 32 draw will be on Monday.
Israel's coefficient for the last four complete seasons and this season so far is 21st with 24.375. A Group Stage win is worth 2 points, so today Israel got 4 points/4 clubs = 1.000. Israel is seventh so far this season with 7.000. Israel is ahead of Netherlands with 6.800, France with 6.750, Austria with 6.700, Belgium with 5.800, and Ukraine with 5.400, all of which have two clubs left. Paris Saint-Germain should make France pass Israel easily, but for Israel to be ahead of France while France is down to two clubs is a big deal. Of the 48 remaining clubs, a majority are from the top four countries. Spain and England have 7, and Italy and Germany have 6, Portugal has 3, and no other country has more than 2. Israel's best season was 2001-2002 with 8.333, 2009-2010 was second with 7.250, and this season is third.
Maccabi Tel Aviv will host the first leg against Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine, who beat Real Madrid twice. Shakhtar lost to Borussia Monchengaldbach twice, which made Shakhtar lose the head-to-head tiebreaker for second. They were the third best third place club in the Champions League, so they went in the top pot for the Europa League Round of 32 draw. The games will be on February 18 and 25. February 18 is 66 days after today.