Just prior to the kick-off of the first Europa League qualifier between Maccabi Tel Aviv and F.C. Basel at St. Jakob Park in Switserland, a combination of cold statistics and unbridled imagination produced two lists with a wide variety of reasons why Maccabi might or might not successfully get past this challenging encounter with the Swiss champions.
Why it's impossible:
1. Tottenham, Sporting Lisbon, Dnipro, Zenit and Manchester United have already failed to do so.
2. Similarity of Basel's kit to Barcelona's.
3. Basel head coach Murat Yakin already beat Maccabi Tel Aviv as a player.
4. Basel are ranked 141 places higher than Maccabi in the UEFA rating.
5. It took 46 years from the time Theodor Herzl's spoke the famous words, "If you will it, it is no dream", from a balcony in Basle until the State of Israel was established.
6. We are not used to playing in rainy weather.
7. We have more important things to do.
8. What else have they got there but football?
9. They don’t have a beach to go to in the middle of the season.
10. If one of the greatest tennis players of all times (Roger Federer) is Basel's most famous fan, well, what more can be said?
Why it's possible:
1. After last season at Videoton, Paulo Sousa already knows how to beat Basel.
2. Basel's big stars (Xherdan Shaqiri, Alexander Frei) are no longer around, and even Aleksandar Dragovic preferred the freezing weather in Kiev.
3. Basel have two players (the Egyptians Mohamed Salah and Mohamed Elneny) who will be playing after the traditional daytime fast during the Moslem holiday of Ramadan, while Maccabi have just one, Maharan Radi.
4. When the Swiss champions arrive for the return leg in Israel's 35° Celsius heat, the only thing they'll be wanting is for the nightmare to end.
5. In the Hebrew system of attaching numerical values to letters, the word Israel is equivalent to 541, Switzerland to 412.
6. Since the Swiss have a tradition of remaining neutral in international affairs, why shouldn't they continue to do so and simply let us win?
7. If Theodor Herzl laid the groundwork for the Jewish state in Basle, then today the groundwork will be laid for establishing a "Maccabi" state there.
8. The red-blue colours of the FC Basel kit and their English initials of FCB, similar as they are to Barcelona, do not make them the best team in Europe.
9. Maccabi midfielder Maharan Radi's free kicks are more accurate than any Swiss clock.
Finally, FC Basel deserve every possible support in advancing past their last season semi-final finish in the Europa League and they might as well get an early start by losing to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Champions League qualifiers.
