Maccabi Tel Aviv clinched the Israeli titled today. They start in Qualifying Round 2 for the Champions League, where they will be seeded. They need to advance three rounds to get to the Group Stage. The draw for the first two Qualifying Rounds for the Champions League will be on 22 June.
They could also be the first team to win the treble (since three competitions were first introduced in 1984) with a win in the Israel State Cup final on Wednesday, May 20.
They did it. 6-2 win featuring a Prica hat-trick. Hopefully it will be a better season for Israeli teams in Europe. Last season the unpleasantness in Gaza forced all the clubs to play their home games in Cyprus and it was a disaster.
Maccabi Tel Aviv will host the second leg of Qualifying Round 2 against Hibernians of Malta. The first leg will be on 14 or 15 July and the second leg will be on 21 or 22 July. Maccabi Tel Aviv was seeded with an 18.200 coefficient and Hibernians was unseeded with a 1.591 coefficient. Hibernians could have the worst coefficient of any club in Qualifying Round 2 depending on who advances from Qualifying Round 1. Maccabi Tel Aviv will be unseeded in Qualifying Round 3 because their coefficient will rank 11th out of the 20 clubs in the champions path.
Maccabi Tel Aviv will play friendlies against Vozdovac Belgrade on June 30 and Anzhi Makhachkala on July 7.
Anzhi Makhachkala 1:1 Maccabi Tel Aviv was the final score. Maccabi Tel Aviv's Qualifying Round 2 first leg at Hibernians will be on Tuesday July 14 at 2:00 P.M. USA Eastern.
Here are the probabilities for today's first leg based on the Bet365 odds: Hibernians win: 8.(3 repeating)% Draw: 18.(3 repeating)% Maccabi Tel Aviv win: 73.(3 repeating)%
Hibernians 2:1 Maccabi Tel Aviv was the disappointing final score. Igiebor of Maccabi Tel Aviv scored in the 22nd minute. Silva was subbed on in the 64th minute. Jorginho (according to UEFA) or Silva (according to www.flashscore.com) of Hibernians equalized in the 74th minute. Jackson Lima scored the winning goal in the 85th minute. Maccabi Tel Aviv had 55% of the possession, but some other statistics favored Hibernians. Hibernians had over double the shots, 17 to 8. Maccabi Tel Aviv had the first three shots on target and finished with more shots on target, 3 to 2. Maccabi Tel Aviv blocked 7 shots but had no saves. Hibernians had more free kicks, 21 to 15, and the gap got smaller at the end. Hibernians had more corner kicks, 5 to 4. There were 3 yellow cards each and nobody was ejected. Maccabi Tel Aviv can still advance next week but will lose by a lot in Qualifying Round 3 if they play like this. The draw for Qualifying Round 3 is on Friday July 17 and Maccabi Tel Aviv will be the top unseeded team if they advance. Being the top unseeded team doesn't help them any more than having the worst club coefficient would. Hopefully Israel gets more coefficient points than the 1.375 in 2014-2015.
If they advance to Qualifying Round 3, Maccabi Tel Aviv will host the first leg against Viktoria Plzen of Czech Republic. Viktoria Plzen has a 41.825 club coefficient, which is the third best of the ten seeded clubs in the Champions Path.
Maccabi Tel Aviv led 1:0 at halftime due to an own goal in the 32nd minute, but Hibernians equalized in the 52nd minute. Maccabi Tel Aviv took the lead on a 58th minute penalty kick, which tied the aggregate and away goals. Maccabi Tel Aviv also scored in the 61st, 82nd, and 90th minutes to win 5:1 and win the aggregate 6:3. Maccabi Tel Aviv had 56% of the possession, double the shots (22 to 11), more shots on target (13 to 5), more corner kicks (7 to 5), and fewer yellow cards (5 to 3). Hibernians had fewer fouls (22 to 15) and more free kicks (26 to 16). Maccabi Tel Aviv was offside 3 times, 1 more than Hibernians. Nobody was ejected. The Bet365 odds had these probabilities: Maccabi Tel Aviv win: 81.4% Draw: 11.5% Hibernians win: 7.1% http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2016/matches/round=2000631/match=2015598/index.html has statistics and http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsle...match=2015598/postmatch/commentary/index.html has commentary.
Today's final score was Maccabi Tel Aviv 1:2 Viktoria Plzen. Maccabi Tel Aviv improved but couldn't come back after allowing the first 2 goals.
http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2016/matches/round=2000632/match=2015636/index.html has statistics about Maccabi Tel Aviv's surprise win. The only goals were two by Eran Zahavi, a penalty kick in the 76th minute and a goal in the 83rd minute. Maccabi Tel Aviv won the aggregate 3:2. For the second consecutive round, they will be the top unseeded clubs. All of the seeded clubs in the Playoff Round for Champions have a worse coefficient than Viktoria Plzen except for Basel. Basel's coefficient is more than double the next highest club in the Playoff Round for Champions. On Friday the draw will determine which of these five clubs Maccabi Tel Aviv will play: Basel (Switzerland): 84.875 Celtic (Scotland): 39.080 APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus): 35.460 BATE Borisov (Belarus): 35.150 Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia): 24.700 In terms of the games possibly being on TV in the USA, I'd say Basel (who I don't want Maccabi Tel Aviv to have to face because of how good Basel is) and Celtic would be the most likely opponents to get the games on TV. If Maccabi Tel Aviv loses the aggregate, they will go to the Europa League Group Stage, so at least one Israeli club will reach a Group Stage, which didn't happen last season. Here are the probabilities based on the Bet365 odds for today's Maccabi Tel Aviv win: Viktoria Plzen win: 60.0% Draw: 23.6% Maccabi Tel Aviv win: 16.4%
The Bet365 odds for Wednesday's first leg at Basel produce these probabilities: Basel win: 63.8% Draw: 23.2% Maccabi Tel Aviv win: 13.0% I thought Basel would be bigger favorites than they are. The Bet365 odds give Basel a 69.5% chance to win the aggregate.
The announcer (there was only one) said (I'm not saying I agree or disagree with him) that Basel could have been awarded a second penalty kick (they scored 1 penalty kick goal) and had a goal called back for a foul when two players were fouling each other. http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsle...nd=2000633/match=2015648/postmatch/index.html has highlights and statistics. Basel dominated some of the statistics: Shots: Basel 16, Maccabi Tel Aviv 5 Shots on target: Basel 6, Maccabi Tel Aviv 2 Corner kicks: Basel 10, Maccabi Tel Aviv 1 Possession: Basel 68%, Maccabi Tel Aviv 32% Pass completion percentage: Basel 89.9%, Maccabi Tel Aviv 70.1% Long pass completion percentage: Basel 80%, Maccabi Tel Aviv 44% Percent of completed passes for that club: Basel 78.9%, Maccabi Tel Aviv 21.1% The goals were Eran Zahavi in the 31st minute, Matias Delgado on a penalty kick in the 39th minute, Breel Embolo in the 88th minute, and Zahavi in the 90+6th minute. The announcer said the Maccabi Tel Aviv players wasted time, resulting 6 minutes of stoppage time announced, and Maccabi Tel Aviv scored at about 95:50. The cards were equal with 2 yellows each and no reds. http://ball-control.com/champions-league/356-basel-2-2-maccabi-tel-aviv has highlights.
I enjoyed the announcer stating at the beginning of the match that "both Ben Haims have the same Christian name too."
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Sports/Mac-TA-earns-injury-time-draw-at-Basel-412671 is a recap. The second leg will be on Tuesday at 2:45 P.M. with coverage starting at 2:00 P.M. on Fox regional sports networks.
If Maccabi Tel Aviv advances, Israel will be the first country to have three clubs reach the Champions League Group Stage from the Champions qualifying path. This is the seventh season of the current qualifying format. Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Tel Aviv were the first two Israeli clubs to reach the Group Stage that way. Here are the probabilities based on the Bet365 odds: Maccabi Tel Aviv win: 27.2% Draw: 26.4% Basel win: 46.4%
After Maccabi Tel Aviv 1:1 Basel, Maccabi Tel Aviv advanced to the Group Stage for the first time since 2004-2005 and became the first Israeli club to reach the Group Stage since Hapoel Tel Aviv in 2010-2011.
Basel had 57% of the possession, more shots (14 to 4), more shots on target (4 to 1), more corner kicks (10 to 2), and more throw ins (42 to 11). Maccabi Tel Aviv had more free kicks (19 to 16) and fewer yellow cards (1 to 4). Basel had 62.9% of the passes attempted and 65.2% of the passes completed. http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2016/matches/round=2000633/match=2015663/postmatch/report/index.html#maccabi edge basel is a recap.
Here is Maccabi Tel Aviv's Group Stage schedule: 16 September at Chelsea 29 September hosting Dinamo Kiev 20 October at Porto 4 November hosting Porto 24 November hosting Chelsea 9 December at Dinamo Kiev
The September 16 game at Chelsea will be on Fox Sports regional networks in the USA with pregame coverage at 2:00 P.M. and kickoff at 2:45 P.M. Here are the probabilities based on the Bet365 odds: Chelsea win: 84.5% Draw: 11.0% Maccabi Tel Aviv win: 4.5%
Chelsea won 4:0 and had 60 percent of the possession. http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsle...634/match=2015678/postmatch/report/index.html is a recap.
Tuesday at 2:45 P.M. USA Eastern, Maccabi Tel Aviv will host Dinamo Kiev (also known as Dynamo Kyiv) in their easiest Group Stage game. Here are the probabilities based on the Bet365 odds: Maccabi Tel Aviv win: 25.1% Draw: 27.7% Dinamo Kiev win: 47.1% The sum is 99.9% due to rounding. The game will not be on live TV but is availble on ESPN3 online. It will be delayed on Fox Soccer Plus Wednesday at 8:00 A.M. and on Fox Deportes Thursday at 4:00 P.M.