Dream or death for Hapoel Tel Aviv? - Haaretz

Subscribe to Print Edition

Wed., October 10, 2007 ,

Israel Time: 02:18 (EST+7)

web haaretz.com

Back to Homepage

Print Edition

Diplomacy

Defense

Arts & Leisure

Real Estate

Jewish World

National

Advertising

Magazine

Week's End

Business

Opinion

Rosner's Domain

Anglo File

Books

Travel

del.icio.us

Digg It! new

Dream or death for Hapoel Tel Aviv?

By Uzi Dann

The draw for the UEFA Cup group stage will be held today at noon, and Hapoel Tel Aviv will be there for the second straight year.

As in recent years, there will be eight groups of five teams each; each group will be made up of one club from each of five pots. Each club faces the other teams in its group once, and the top three teams in each group advance. The 24 teams from the UEFA Cup group stage are joined by the eight third-place finishers in the Champions League group stage, for a total of 32 teams who move on to the knockout stage.

Hapoel Tel Aviv is in the fourth pot, mostly due to the many upsets in the first round of the competition. The pots can be misleading, as a team like Atletico Madrid, which advanced from the Intertoto Cup and has not had much European success recently, is a very strong club but is in the third pot, while Austria Wien, a relatively weak club, is in the second pot.

	Advertisement

Hapoel Tel Aviv could theoretically get a "group of death" with Bayern Munich, Tottenham, Atletico Madrid and F.C. Zurich, which would be impossible to advance from - but which would be worth a lot of money in broadcast fees. On the other hand, a group with Basel, Austria Wien, Stade Rennais and Helsingborgs could be the best-case scenario regarding the chances of at least advancing.

Hapoel Tel Aviv is expected to host a second-pot club on October 25 and a fifth-pot club on December 5-6, and to face away matches against a third-pot club on November 8 and against a first-pot club on December 19-20. However, constraints regarding the stadiums and the weather could alter the dates or whether Hapoel will be home or away. Last year, Hapoel was supposed to visit Bucharest and host Saint Germain, but in fact the opposite happened.

Bookmark to del.icio.us


	Group goals
	Hapoel T.A. could be given either death or a dream in the UEFA Cup group stage draw.


	Bandits on wheels
	The new vehicles most often stolen in September were Sanyung motorbikes.

Today Online


	IDF orders the seizure of Arab land near East Jerusalem
	Responses: 467


	Iranian-born German soccer player refuses to play in Tel Aviv
	Responses: 275


	Daniel Levy: It's no wonder 'Israel Lobby' book is a bestseller
	Responses: 18


	Tom Segev: The 'unification' of Jerusalem is fiction
	Responses: 58


	Yoel Marcus: Olmert, Abbas too weak to make peace
	Responses: 88


	Jewish people should help make decisions for the State of Israel
	Responses: 61

More Headlines
22:07 Rights group: Hamas, Fatah breached int'l law in internecine clashes


21:27 AG opposes moves to postpone criminal probes against Olmert


01:56 PM names Jewish Agency Chair to Kadima's top policy team


01:38 IDF attorneys demand Winograd panel issue warnings to officers


01:54 Katsav's lawyers slam Mazuz for statement made to High Court


00:50 Israeli doctors screen Iraqi heart patients, defying tensions


01:23 Sara Livni, mother of FM Tzipi Livni was laid to rest Tuesday


21:26 Knesset passes law banning sale of lottery tickets to minors


19:58 Average salary in Israel NIS 7,922, foreign workers earn NIS 4,365


15:31 PA minister: Israel could import Gaza vegetables during 'shmita'