Maccabi Haifa in the 3rd qualifying round
Skrevet av Håvard Lindheim, 2. august 2004, 10:58

Rosenborg meets Maccabi Haifa of Israel in the 3rd qualifying round to the Champions League - should Ola By Rise's men knock out Sheriff Tiraspol.

This was the result of the draw in the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Schwitzerland, on Friday.

Facts

Maccabi Haifa Football Club Founded: 1919 City of origin: Haifa, Israel (250 000 inhabitants) Stadion: Kiryat Eliezer Capacity: 14 002 Suit colours: Green shirts, green shorts Merits: 8 league and 5 cup victories Coach: Roni Levy Top scorer 03/04: Walid Badir, 8 goals in 33 matches Official home page UEFA.com: M. Haifa Maccabi Haifa in E-cup

Strong teams like Azar Karadas' Benfica and Red Star of Serbia were potential adversaries, even tough Rosenborg were seeded. Naturally, it had been better to meet for instance the winner of Djurgården - Kaunas, but Rosenborg should be quite pleased with the draw.

Maccabi Haida participated in the 1st group stages in Champions Leage two years ago, and won against Olympiakos and a B-side from Manchester United. In last year's UEFA cup, the Israelis chocked Valencia by playing 0-0 in Spain, but the home leg ended in a 0-4 loss.

The prestations vary, tough. Three years ago, Maccabi Haifa was knocked out by Finnish team Haka Valkeakoski in the qualifying stages for the Champions League, while two years ago they were squashed by Greek club AEK Athens with a combined 1-8 in the 3rd round of the UEFA cup.

During the 2002/03 season, Maccabi Haifa lost the premiership on goal difference; Maccabi Tel-Aviv won on a better difference of 2. Last season, however, they struck back and won a comfortably 6 points ahead of Maccabi Tel-Aviv.

Maccabi Haifa's star player for the moment is the Croatian international Giovanni Rosso. The winger started the games against both France and England during this summer's EC. Earlier, profiles like Ronnie Rosenthal, Eyal Berkovih and Yakubu Aygbeni has played for the club.

Rosenborg starts with a home game on Aug 10th or 11th. The away leg is to be played at Aug 24th or 25th. The past seasons, UEFA has denied Israelic teams to play at home, but these sanctions shall now have been lifted; meaning the away leg will indeed be played in Israel.

All in all, rbkweb.com thinks that Rosenborg should have a good chance of knocking Maccabi Haida out over two games. Champions League 2004/05, here we come!

PS! Azar Karadas & Co should have a good chance of advancing; Benfica meets Anderlect, a team it should be possible to beat.

The complete draw:

Grazer AK - Liverpool
Juventus - Djurgården/Kaunas
Tirana/Ferencváros - APOEL Nicosia/Sparta Praha
Rosenborg/Sheriff Tiraspol - Maccabi Haifa
Bayer Leverkusen - Banik Ostrava
Neftchi/CSKA Moskva - Rangers
Pyunik/Shakhtar Donetsk - Club Brugge/Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Dinamo Kiev - Skonto Riga/Trabzonspor
Young Boys/Red Star - PSV Eindhoven
Zilina/Dinamo Bucuresti - Manchester United
Basel - Inter Milan
Gorica/FC København - Real Madrid
Monaco - WIT/Wisla Krakow
Benfica - Anderlecht
Deportivo La Coruña - Hajduk Split/Shelbourne
PAOK - HJK Helsinki/Maccabi Tel-Aviv