That the Intertoto Cup no longer exists. Yes, the world's most mysterious competion, with one winner, then a few more before half the teams 'won' it. When they realised that 24 ties with 12 winners, who all go to the UEFA cup, was basically the same as a UEFA Cup qualifying leg, they simply changed the name and got rid of the trophy. Click to continue reading...

Amidst all the brow-furrowing over Schalke's massacre in Madrid on Wednesday, it largely went unnoticed that German sides Hertha Berlin and Stuttgart were having some international success on Thursday.
Both clubs dispatched obscure Eastern European opponents to win the Intertoto Cup, alias the UEFA Cup qualifications, or, as they known in German soccer fan slang, the doner-kebab competition. Click to continue reading...

Aston Villa surprised many neutrals last season, and probably even some of their own supporters, with their 6th-place finish. In 2006-2007, the Villans checked in at a respectable 11th, a nice improvement from 16th the season before. Villa's emergence, led by manager Martin O'Neill, came with one of the smallest, if not THE smallest, first team rosters in the Premiership. Click to continue reading...

When Sam Allardyce left by "mutual consent" in early January, Newcastle turned to a familiar figure to turn the club's fortunes around. I said it then and I'll say it now: Kevin Keegan, who spent over a decade away from St. James Park before returning to take the reins, is a blast from the past and isn't the answer going forward. Click to continue reading...

Yesterday Hamburg won the Emirates Cup, finishing ahead of Real Madrid, Arsenal and Juventus. Hamburg had already been invited to last year's edition of the mini-tournament, but had to cancel their participation due to an Intertoto Cup game. In March Hamburg won said Intertoto Cup by outlasting Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Cup. Click to continue reading...

Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill has conceded Gareth Barry's proposed move to Liverpool could yet go ahead.

On Wednesday it appeared the England midfielder would be staying in the Midlands after Liverpool failed to meet Villa's deadline for a 'suitable' bid.

But after speaking to Barry, 27, and his agent, O'Neill says it is "the best way forward" to leave the door open. Click to continue reading...

The draw for the UEFA Cup Second Qualifying Round was conducted this morning, and the two English clubs involved at this stage in the competition couldn't have come away happier. Both should defeat their respective Scandinavian opponents and advance to the First Round without too much difficulty.

After seeing off EB/Streymur in the last round, Manchester City will open this tie at home against FC Midtjylland. Click to continue reading...

Gareth Barry's transfer to Liverpool finally looks like going through after the Anfield club came up with the money to secure his move from Aston Villa.

The longest-running saga of the summer has reached a confusing climax after an earlier statement that he was staying at Villa Park.

Sportsmail understands that the mix-up was due to a deadline being missed by 20 minutes, and the transfer will finally be concluded on Thursday. Click to continue reading...

Want to experience the trials and tribulations of an English soccer team but not sure which one to follow?

We'll follow a team through the 2008-09 season here at The Netminder. Each week, we'll go through an update of team news and check in with the papers and blogs. If we find a receptive front office, we'll talk with players and managers every once in a while.

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The final set of Intertoto Cup fixtures took place over the weekend and the eleven winning clubs now advance to the UEFA Cup second qualifying round. Advancing are Aston Villa, Napoli, Stade Rennais FC, RC Deportivo La Coruna, SC Braga, SC Vaslui, SK Sturm Graz, Grasshopper-Club, VfB Stuttgart, IF Elfsborg and Rosenborg BK. Click to continue reading...

Aston Villa today announced Wilfred Bouma could be playing within 4 to 6 months following his succesfull operation on a dislocated ankle suffered during the victory at Odense BK in the intertoto cup.

The Dutch international, 30, underwent an operation on Sunday, in which the ankle was reset succesfully, Leaving the wingback in "Good spirits" according to Martin O'Neil. Click to continue reading...

Martin O'Neill has urged Gareth Barry to remain with Aston Villa and claimed the Midlands club wants him more than Liverpool.

Barry received a rapturous reception from the Villa faithful following his introduction as a 15th-minute substitute in the Intertoto Cup win over Odense.

The England midfielder responded with applause of his own as he turned in his usual measured performance after replacing stricken Dutchman Wilfred Bouma at left-back. Click to continue reading...

Nothing like playing in a friendly to get yourself injured... This week saw two popular defenders injure themselves: Bosingwa of Chelsea and Bouma of Villa. Both are likely to miss the start of the season.

Bouma sustained the worst injury, dislocating an ankle in Villa's Intertoto Cup third round victory over Danish side Odense. Click to continue reading...

Panionios became the third Greek club in the history of the Intertoto Cup to be knocked out of the competition in the final round, after another 1-0 loss to SSC Napoli on Saturday. Panionios were underdogs heading to Naples, as Napoli held a 1-0 aggregate lead heading into the decisive Click to continue reading...

A summer filled with video highlights here continues with Ashley Young's stunning goal in Aston Villa's 1-0 victory over Odense BK yesterday. The win sealed Villa's place in the UEFA Cup second qualifying round, and Young sent the home crowd into raptures with this right-footed drive from his usual left wing position. Click to continue reading...

This weekend brings to a close the often-times confusing history of UEFA's least-popular competition, the Intertoto Cup. When I was first becoming interested in European soccer in the mid-'90s, I would hear the phrase "Intertoto Cup" mentioned, but without the Internet resources we have today, I could never quite figure out what it was. Click to continue reading...

The 2nd legs of the 3rd Round of the Intertoto Cup takes place this weekend. All the winners go into the qualifying rounds of the UEFA. The most interesting tie this weekend has to be Aston Villa v Odense at Villa Park later on this afternoon not because the tie is square at 2-2 but the reception Gareth Barry might receive from the home fans should Martin O'Neill decide to include him in the squad. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool are putting the finishing touches to a deal that will make Robbie Keane one of most expensive signings in the club's history.

Keane is expected to undergo a medical early next week to finalise his transfer from Tottenham Hotspur.

The fee could ultimately rise to £20m given the add-ons and incentives that have been negotiated. Click to continue reading...

Hibs torn apart in Pep Guardiola's first match as Barca boss Having already been knocked out of the InterToto Cup earlier this month, Hibs' confidence is clearly low - not a great time to face Barcelona then. The vistiors gave... Click to continue reading...

Martin O'Neill has warned Liverpool he is ready to set a deadline for them to meet his valuation of want-away Aston Villa skipper Gareth Barry.

O'Neill insists Villa cannot continue to be at the "behest" of the Merseysiders who have failed to offer the £18million he is seeking for the England midfielder. Click to continue reading...

Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill says he will be playing Gareth Barry in their Intertoto Cup match with Odense. O'Neill had this to say: "I think that in terms of fitness the game on Tuesday will have brought Gareth on so, if he's mentally tuned in and he wants to go and play, why not? "Why shouldn't [. Click to continue reading...

The action begins to pick up this weekend, though it is still a far cry from what we will see in another few weeks or so. Where should we start . . .? How about with a question. Why does it seem that there are never any good MLS matchups over the weekend? There are four MLS games on this weekend and none of them match up teams that would make the playoffs if the season ended today. Click to continue reading...

In one of my recent poll questions, which you can find on the left-hand side of the homepage underneath the blog archive, I asked which story you believed to be the biggest so far this summer. One of the choices was Gareth Barry and his desire to leave Aston Villa for Liverpool, and although I can't remember the exact number, it got its fair share of votes. Click to continue reading...

Yet more interest is shown in a Tottenham man who doesn't appear to be part of Juande's long term plans. Aston Villa have made a late bid to hijack Younes Kaboul's move to Sunderland. Villa boss Martin O'Neill is anxious to bolster his squad before Saturday's InterToto Cup second leg game ... Click to continue reading...

The European season is creaking back into gear. A friendly here, an InterToto Cup match there. We're even seeing some early round Champions League qualifiers. What does this mean? It means it's once again time to play the "Read the Manager Emotion" game! Using only the clues from body language, [. Click to continue reading...

Portugal's S.C. Braga beat Turkey's Sivasspor 2-0 in the Intertoto Cup first leg on Sunday, and it's safe to say that Sivasspor keeper Volkan Ünlü had a bad night. With Sivasspor already 1-0 down, Ünlü was beaten from about 70 meters out by a strike from defender Moisés. I say strike, but it was more like [. Click to continue reading...

The Intertoto Cup has been called the "Cup for the Cupless" because it involves clubs that otherwise would not be involved in European action. Before we get too far into What's Going On, a little background on the Intertoto Cup may be in order. The Intertoto Cup was created as a way to generate money for football pools during the summer off-season. Click to continue reading...

Martin O'Neill is confident that Aston Villa will be able to improve in the Intertoto cup. He said: "I'd expect by this time next week we'd be much fitter and that's important. "It was so important for us to stay in the competition. We've scored two goals and we'll be better for it next week. "I felt for [. Click to continue reading...

Grasshopper in the Intertoto Cup In the first leg of the final round of the Intertoto Cup (that grants access to the second round of the UEFA Cup) Grasshopper defeated Bulgarian side PFC Chernomorets Burgas 3-0, courtesy of goals by Veroljub Salatic, Gonzalo Zarate and Samel Sabanovic. The match was played Click to continue reading...

Photo from here.

I have to admit, when I got home yesterday and saw that Scott Carson had been sold to West Bromwich Albion for a grand total of 3.25 million pounds (depending on benchmarks, that fee can rise...to only 3.75 million), the lunch I had just enjoyed with Kartik Krishnaiyer of the American Soccer Show nearly escaped me.

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If I am honest I have had a real s**t time recently.
For the last two weeks work has been THE major concern in my life - everything else including 'my small indulgence' on the internet (this blog) has suffered and my LOVE LIFE too!!! LOL.
From today I hope that I will be here again each and every day especially as the start of the football season gets closer and closer. Click to continue reading...

Aston Villa is on the transfer lookout and in hot pursuit of Brad Friedel. Villa manager Martin O'neill, hoped to sign Friedel in time for their Intertoto cup match against Odesnse on Saturday but it appears he will not be signed in time.  Villa are in desperate need of a keeper, as their only one [. Click to continue reading...

Martin O'Neill wants Brad Friedel to play in Saturday's Intertoto Cup against Odense BK. To do so, he needs a deal for the Blackburn keeper to happen this morning. Villa are said to be ready to pay £2.5m for the... Click to continue reading...

Last week, I believe I said that the Superliga was the most exciting thing going on over the weekend. Even though the group stage of the Superliga concludes this weekend, now that D.C. United has been all but mathematically eliminated from the tournament, I'm not so excited about it. TeleFutura will be broadcasting the last matchdays of the group stage on Saturday and Sunday, but I'm more excited about the Uruguayan Copa Artigas, which concludes this weekend, so we will soon learn which Uruguayan teams advance to the 2008 Copa Sudamericana and which advance (in addition to Defensor Sporting) to the 2009 Copa Libertadores. Click to continue reading...

The pre season is in full swing now with the SPL clubs getting their preparations for the season fully underway. A quick roundup: After the disaster of the Intertoto Cup Hibs were held to a no scoring draw against Raith. Good news for the Hibs fans: There was a mystery triallist in goals. Bad news for the Hibs fans: He was 24 year old Phil Imray of Team Wellington in New Zealand. Click to continue reading...