JERUSALEM, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Israeli football clubs Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Beer Sheva advanced to the third qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League while Maccabi Netanya was eliminated on Thursday.
After winning 3-0 in the first leg in Azerbaijan last week, Maccabi Tel Aviv drew 0-0 with PFC Zire in front of 11,700 demanding fans, who booed their home team for a poor performance, at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv.
Thanks to a late header by Rotem Hatuel in the 85th minute, Israeli Cup holder Hapoel Beer Sheva achieved a 1-0 win over the Dinamo Minsk of Belarus to advance.
The second leg was played behind closed doors at Turner Stadium in the Israeli city of Beer Sheva, as a home match for the Belarusians, a week after the Hapoel won 2-1 on the same pitch.
Maccabi Netanya lost 1-0 at home to Istanbul Basaksehir. The Turkish side thus advanced to the next round with a 2-1 victory on aggregate.
Basaksehir silenced 11,000 local fans at the coastal city of Netanya with an early goal in the ninth minute from a header by the Burundian midfielder Youssouf Ndayishimiye. Netanya missed several good chances of equalizing, including a header from Gil Itzhak that hit the crossbar in the last seconds. ■
