National cups are something special for many teams and supporters. Today's match will decide whether it's Maccabi Haifa or Hapoel Afula that keep their silverware dream alive.
Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Afula should both be in good shape for this meeting, as there's been enough days for both of them to train and rest since their last matches.
Maccabi Haifa form and stats
Last season their State Cup adventure ended in the quarter-finals.A nice win for Maccabi Haifa last time playing, versus Ironi Kiryat Shmona. That was also a home game and the match ended 1-0. In the preceding match a 3-0 victory visiting Ashdod.
There will be little rest for Maccabi after this match as they are travelling to Hapoel Be'er Sheva for a Ligat ha'Al game in only four days.
Hapoel Afula form and stats
Last season their State Cup adventure ended in the 8th finals.Hapoel Afula had fun at their own home (Sammy Ofer Stadium) last time out, beating Maccabi Ahi Nazareth 5-0. E. Isakov, D. Bitton and D. Kochav scored. A loss against Hapoel Umm al-Fahm was the result prior to that, in a Liga Leumit home game.
As mentioned above, Afula was the only team on the pitch versus Maccabi Ahi Nazareth in their previous game, winning 5-0. This could be a tougher task.
There might be some complaints about the fixture list from the Afula manager R. Zolo as the team has another away game coming up in only four days, this time against Hapoel Ra'anana.
Head 2 Head
Top Goalscorers
  N. Rukavytsya 17 goals |  T. Chery 8 goals |  D. Haziza 8 goals |
Maccabi Haifa missing players
Hapoel Afula missing players
| Maccabi Haifa | Hapoel Afula | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 14 | Played | P | 11 | 25 | ||
| 19 | 11 | Won | W | 4 | 12 | ||
| 3 | 2 | Drew | D | 4 | 7 | ||
| 3 | 1 | Lost | L | 3 | 6 | ||
| 48 | 26 | Scored | S | 12 | 34 | ||
| 14 | 8 | Conceded | C | 9 | 16 | ||
| 100% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 91% | 92% | ||
| 84% | 79% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 55% | 60% | ||
| 52% | 43% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 36% | 32% | ||
| 4% | 7% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 9% | 12% | ||
| 4% | 7% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 0% | 4% | ||
| 36% | 36% | BTTS | BTTS | 45% | 28% | ||
| 56% | 57% | Clean Sheets | C S | 36% | 52% | ||
| 8% | 7% | Failed to Score | F T | 27% | 28% | ||
| 0 | 0 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 0 | 0 | ||
| 0 | 0 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2 | 2.2 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 2.7 | 2.3 | ||
| 0 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 0 | 0 | ||
| 11.3 | 11.1 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 9.3 | 10.2 | ||
| 5.3 | 4.4 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 3.8 | 4.2 | ||
| 36% | 42% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 29% | 33% | ||