2/8/2013 : Hapoel T.A, Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Ramat Gan all draw in Europa League

Football:

Lucas Sasha celebrates after scoring his goal (hapoel t.a)

Hapoel Tel Aviv finished the first leg of their UEFA Europa League 3rd qualifying round tie against Romanian side Pandurii Târgu Jiu with the score tied at 1-1. Despite the fact that overall it was not such a great game from Hapoel's point of view, they scored a vital away goal that gave them the advantage going into the home leg of the tie. Pandurii scored first when in the 4th minute midfielder Dan Nistor released a light shot from just inside the area that was fumbled by Hapoel goalie Danny Amos and ended up in the back of the net. In the 29th minute Hapoel found an equalizer when the team's Brazilian midfielder Lucas Sasha took a free-kick form 19 meters and smashed it into the far top corner of Pandurii's goal. " We knew it would be a hard game against the Romanian top flight runners-up", said Hapoel midfielder Shai Abutbul after the draw, " It was important to score that away goal and to have the decisive match at Bloomfield. We are a very talented squad and i am sure that we will improve our game and we will show that we have improved our game in the future. For now we have to concentrate on the current target, which is to advance to the next round. I am sure that Bloomfield will be full next Thursday and that our fans will push us to achieve our target".
The second leg of the tie will be played next Thursday at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv at 20:00 where a packed crowd will attempt to cheer on their team towards a win.

Shimon Abuhatzira battles for the ball with Kaspars Dubra

Maccabi Haifa came out of their match vs FK Ventspils with a poor 0-0 draw in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League 3rd qualifying round tie. Haifa had a couple of good chances to score a goal during the game with the best one coming just before halftime when Spanish midfielder Ruben Rayo hit one from just outside the area but the ball bounced off the crossbar. Another good chance came towards the end of the match when Haifa's Israeli striker Shimon Abuhatzira found himself in a 1-on-1 situation with the Ventspils goalie but smashed the ball straight into his hands.
Haifa play the second leg of their tie at home in the Kiryat Eliezer Stadium in Haifa next Thursday at 19:30.

Other Europa League Results:
Estoril 0-0 Hapoel Ramat Gan 

Spanish giants F.C Barcelona will land in Israel tomorrow to hold training sessions with Israeli kids. They have a scheduled session in Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv and another one in Jerusalem. On their trip they will also meet with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres. Barcelona are supposed to arrive with all their biggest stars including Messi, Neymar, Iniesta and Xavi.

 Preseason friendly results:
Ironi Kiryat Shmona 1-0 Hapoel Haifa