After defeating Lod 3:0, Maccabi Tel Aviv will continue on in the Israel State Cup competition and will be part of the Round of 16 draw which will take place at the National Team Headquarters in Shefayim on this evening, Monday at 17:15. The next round of matches are scheduled for January 24th.
This will be the 71st time overall and the 56th time since the founding of the State of Israel that Maccabi Tel Aviv will take part in the Round of 16. A new State Cup champion will be crowned this season after Maccabi Haifa was knocked out of the tournament at the hands of Maccabi Petach Tikva in the Round of 32. Looking at the statistics, Maccabi will most probably be drawn against a Ligat Ha’Al team as there are 11 of them out of the 15 clubs remaining. There are 4 teams from the Leumit League that remain in the competition who are all dreaming about becoming the Cinderella story of the 2016/17 State Cup.
The potential opponents include: Hapoel Beer Sheva, Hapoel Haifa, Hapoel Ashkelon, Bnei Yehuda, Bnei Sakhnin, Hapoel Raanana, Ironi Kiryat Shemona, SC Ashdod, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Maccabi Petach Tikva, Beitar Jerusalem from the Ligat Ha’Al and Hapoel Ramat Gan, Beitar Tel Aviv/Ramle, Hapoel Jerusalem and Hapoel Rishon Le’Zion from the Leumit League.
In fact, last season Maccabi faced Hapoel Rishon Le’Zion in the Round of 16 and won 2:1 in extra time. The prior season, the Yellow & Blue played Hapoel Ashkelon and defeated the Leumit side 1:0 thanks to a goal by Barak Itzhaki. 2012/13 was the last time Maccabi Tel Aviv lost in the Round of 16 when they fell 2:0 to Beitar Jerusalem at Bloomfield Stadium.
