Maccabi Tel Aviv will play an away derby against Beitar Tel Aviv/Ramle in round 8 of the State Cup. Eytan Tibi: "A difficult draw"
As every year just before New Year's, clubs from the Israeli Premier League are drawn into the competition for the prestigious Israeli State Cup in the eighth round. This afternoon at the offices of the Israeli Football Association thirty-two clubs waited anxiously as two former Cup-winning players, Tal Chen and Omer Boxenbaum, pulled the little balls out of the glass bowl to determine the sixteen eighth round Cup ties to be played on the 13th and 14th of January. The clubs included all fourteen of the Israeli Premier League teams plus four Second Division "Haleumit" teams who advanced automatically to round eight. They were joined by six "Haleumit" clubs who qualified from the last round plus six more "minnows" from the Third Division and one, Bnei Eilat, from the Fourth Division. The final qualifiers are Holon FC from the Fifth Division, a club that was only established this season and have already knocked out two Third Division sides, Maccabi Sha'arayim and Assi Gilboa.
The exact times of the matches have yet to be determined, but what is known is that Maccabi Tel Aviv's eighth round opponent will be Beitar Tel Aviv/Ramle, in a contest for the right to advance to the last sixteen. Currently holding up the Second Division "Haleumit" League table, Beitar Tel Aviv/Ramle have already once knocked Maccabi out of the competition, under the name Beitar Shimshon Tel Aviv, when they ultimately reached the semi-finals in the 2007/08 season. Current Beitar Tel Aviv/Ramle head coach and former Maccabi Netanya player Slobodan Drapic has a managerial history in Israel that stretches back to 1999. Among the current squad members are two players who came up through the Maccabi Tel Aviv academy, striker Matan Lutati and midfielder Sharon Ziso. The team play at the municipal stadium in Ramle with a seating capacity of 1,500. Asked to comment on the draw, Maccabi defender Eytan Tibi said: "It's a difficult draw for us, like any Cup tie this will be no walk in the park. They're a good side who would love to fell a giant, so we have to approach this tie like any other and go out to win".
The other eighth round matches are:
Hapoel Ra'anana – Bnei Yehuda (Haleumit)
Shikun Hamizrach (3rd Division) – Hapoel Migdal Ha-emek (3rd Division)
Hapoel Ashkelon (3rd Division) – Beitar Jerusalem
Givat Olga (3rd Division) – Maccabi Petach Tikva
Hapoel Marmorek (3rd Division) – Hapoel Afula (Haleumit)
Ironi Ramat Hasharon (Haleumit) – Maccabi Haifa
Hapoel Rishon Lezion (Haleumit) – Hapoel Tel Aviv
Maccabi Herzliya (Haleumit) – Hapoel Beer Sheva
Hapoel Acre – Ironi Kiryat Shmona
Maccabi Yavne (Haleumit) – Bnei Sakhnin
Holon FC (Fifth Division) – Sektzia Maalot Tarshiha (Second Division)
Bnei Eilat (Fourth Division) – Hapoel Kfar Saba (Leumit)
Hapoel Petch Tikva – Bnei Lod (Haleumit)
Ahi Nazareth (Haleumit) – Maccabi Netanya
Hapoel Haifa – Ashdod FC
