There are no easy draws
Today, Tuesday, 20/01/2020, the draw for the quarter-finals of the State Cup in football was held. Maccabi Haifa defeated Hapoel Be'er Sheva, the toughest opponent they could face, out of the 8 teams participating in the quarterfinals. But she can also take solace in the fact that the match will be held on her own field, in Sami Ofer, and she will have the majority of the audience.
Maccabi Haifa is in an excellent period, the team is still in second place, but continues to lead in the number of conquests, and the team plays the most attractive football in Israel. She finished the last round with an easy 4:0 result, against the Orange Menes Ziona.
The cup match will be held at the Sami Ofer Stadium, between March 5-3. There is no final date yet, also Maccabi Haifa will meet Hapoel Be'er Sheva that week, probably 3 times. Once in the league, then in the cup, and if the position of the teams on the eve of the opening of the upper playoffs, Maccabi Haifa is in second place and Beer Sheva is in fifth place, the teams will meet again.
Head to head three times
For Maccabi Haifa, three difficult meetings are expected against Hapoel Beer Sheva. The Reds from the south, not having a good season and even fired coach Barak Becher, who won three consecutive championships with the team. His replacement is Yossi Abouxis, whose name has come up quite a few times, as a candidate for the position of coach of Maccabi Haifa.
A victory for the greens in all three games will be a tremendous achievement for Marco Belbul and the players in green. But a loss in the quarter-finals, or a loss within the league, can put an end to the dream of the team's fans, to win some title this season.
cup or championship
There is a higher chance of winning the title, through the cup, than winning the championship. It is true that Maccabi Haifa is strongly placed in second place, and the gap from first place is only 4 points, but it seems that Maccabi Haifa will not win the championship this year. My assessment is based on the fact that in head-to-head battles, against the rival from Tel Aviv, the Greens lost twice this season. It is true that in the first game the result was only one zero and an own goal, in the second game the opera was already completely different, although Maccabi Haifa lost by a goal in extra time, but in most of the minutes of the game the rival from Tel Aviv showed superiority. And it was obvious that Maccabi Haifa is not yet there in the struggles against Tel Aviv.
270 minutes described
Maccabi Haifa is 3 games away from the title for this season. Winning the cup and fighting to the end, head to head against first place, will be a tremendous achievement for the club, which closes 9 years without winning the championship.
