Maccabi Tel Aviv opens their State Cup title defense tomorrow, Thursday evening at 21:00 when they take a short trip to Grundman Stadium to take on Ramat HaSharon. But right before the match, lets look at who the Yellow-and-Blue faced in first round action prior to the establishment of the State of Israel, who the all-time leading State Cup goal scorer is, what was the margin of the biggest win and more:
This week Maccabi will begin it’s 79th year in the Israel State Cup Tournament
Prior to the establishment of the State of Israel, the Yellow-and-Blue played against two British Army sides: In 1929 they defeated the Communications Corps (Sarafand Radio) 5:2 and in 1938 Maccabi beat the Air Corps (Flying Ramle) 6:1.
10:0 was the match with the largest margin of victory and it occurred in 1937 against Maccabi Bar-Kochba Jerusalem.
54 times Maccabi has faced lower division sides in the first round of the State Cup and three teams have been from the 5th division: Beitar Pardes Chana, Ironi Hod HaSharon and Ironi Ofakim.
1 time Maccabi had to go to penalties in the first round and that was back in 2002 when they defeated Tzafririm Holon 6:5 after 120 minutes tied at 1:1.
In 1952, Maccabi advanced via a technical victory when Maccabi Netanya was unable to field 11 players in the match.
Benny Tabak scored 31 goals for Maccabi Tel Aviv in State Cup matches. His first goal in the first round was against Hapoel Ramat Gan in a 2:0 win for the Yellow-and-Blue.
Hapoel “Nir” Ramat HaSharon will be the 83rd opponent for Maccabi in State Cup play since Israel’s establishment. This will be the first time they will be playing against each other in this competition.
HaKoach Amidar Ramat Gan and Hapoel Jerusalem are the teams that Maccabi has played most often at this stage of the tournament – 4 times a piece.
Last year Maccabi also faced a Leumit League team in the first round when they defeated Beitar Tel Aviv/Ramle 4:1. Interestingly enough the Yellow-and-Blue beat Maccabi Haifa 1:0 in league play prior to that State Cup match.
Data: Courtesy of Yaron Maashal.
