Maccabi have drawn title rivals Ironi Kiryat Shmona in the two-legged State Cup quarter finals
This morning at the offices of the Israeli Football Association, the draw was held for the quarter finals of the prestigious State Cup competition. After winning their last sixteen tie last week against Hapoel Ashkelon, Maccabi Tel Aviv learned that their run in the Cup will continue against title rivals Ironi Kiryat Shmona. This year the quarter finals will be played over two legs, home and away, with the first leg scheduled for the 10th and 11th of February and the second leg on the 3rd and 4th of March. Maccabi will play their first leg away and return to Bloomfield Stadium three weeks later to complete their attempt to reach the semi-finals of the competition for the first time since 2005.
In response to the draw, Maccabi Tel Aviv sports director Jordi Cruyff told the club's official website: "This is one of the toughest teams we could have drawn as Kiryat Shmona is a very good side which reached the final twice in the last two seasons. We will now have to play them three times in a short period of time and even though the return leg will be played at Bloomfield it is still tough for both teams. We are very excited and highly motivated to do something nice in the Cup this year so we will have to face any difficulty if we want to reach the higher stages of the competition".
This is the first time this season that Maccabi will be facing Premier League opposition in the competition, after their eighth round win against second division side Beitar Tel Aviv/Ramla and last sixteen victory at home against third division leaders Hapoel Ashkelon. Ironi Kiryat Shmona on the other hand faced Premier League opponents in both rounds, first winning 0-2 at Hapoel Acre and then defeating Maccabi Haifa in a penalty shoot-out in the last sixteen. The away leg of the Maccabi-Kiryat Shmona tie will come just days before their league encounter at Bloomfield Stadium on Monday Feb. 16th. As of the present moment, Maccabi lead the Israeli Premier League table by a fragile one point over their northern rivals.
This will be Maccabi's fourth time facing Ironi Kiryat Shmona in State Cup competition, and Maccabi have won all four encounters. The first came in the last sixteen of the 1975/76 season, when Maccabi won after a penalty shoot-out. The two sides met in the same round in the 1982/83 season, with Maccabi having already won the tie 2-0 in the allotted 90 minutes. Their third face-off came in the quarter finals of the 2001/02 season and resulted in a resounding 6-0 victory for Maccabi Tel Aviv on the way to the club's 21st all-time State Cup triumph. Their most recent encounter in the competition came once again in the round of the last sixteen, in the 2003/04 season, and resulted in an equally emphatic 0-4 victory for Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The complete quarter final draw:
Ironi Kiryat Shmona – Maccabi Tel Aviv
Maccabi Yavne – Hapoel Beer Sheva
Hapoel Afula – Maccabi Petach Tikva
Hapoel Kfar Saba – Maccabi Ahi Nazareth
