Our Intertoto adventure…
The Intertoto Cup trophy – almost life size
As Europe is on our minds at the moment. Do you remember our last piece of European silverware? – possibly the smallest trophy in world football
Yes, you are correct as on 24th August, 1999, West Ham completed a memorable 3-1 victory away to Metz to win the Intertoto Cup.
The Irons went to Metz with qualification for the UEFA Cup on the line. They’d finished fifth in the Premier League the season before and as such we had to win the short-lived preliminary tournament to make it in.
They’d beaten Finnish side FC Jokerit and Eredivisie club Heerenveen en route to the final. But they lost the first leg of the final 1-0 at Upton Park, with a young Louis Saha scoring the match-winner for the Ligue 1 outfit. So they had their work cut out to produce a memorable comeback victory in Metz.
“Obviously the lads were a bit gutted because it meant cutting the break short, but once we got into it we went to some great places and beat Metz in France to qualify for the UEFA Cup,” reminisced Stevie Lomas, who featured in every game of the Intertoto Cup run, in a recent interview with the official West Ham website.
“If you ask the fans who went, I think they’d say going there and winning was one of their most enjoyable occasions. We had a run in the UEFA Cup after that, which they also enjoyed.
“It might not have gone down too well at the start, but by the end of it the lads were also loving it.”
Now for ultimate bragging rights, and your name up in lights…can anyone name the starting XI that day?
