The cover of In Scotland Again (1933) by travel writer H. V. Morton.
Scottish football starts up for another year as the League Cup kicks off. Except that Morton aren't in Scotland, they're in Berwick, England, for their Group F match against Berwick Rangers.
Morton and Berwick met in last year's League Cup, when Morton won 2 - 0 at Cappielow. The last time Berwick beat Morton was August 7th, 2004, in the Second Division. The last time Berwick beat Morton in the League Cup was 1960.
Last year Berwick ended the group stage with two losses and two penalty shoot-out losses, for a total of two points.
What was Berwick's best showing in the League Cup? Semi-final, 1963-64.
Like last year, there are no conventional draw scores in the group stage. If the score is even after 90 minutes the game is decided by penalty kicks. The winner gets 2 points, the loser 1 point.
How many points does it take to advance beyond the group stage? Last year all the clubs with 10 points advanced, and all but one of the clubs with 9 points.
The group stage draw is weighted to produce groups containing one Premiership club, one Championship club, and three lower league clubs. But due to promotion, relegation and the luck of the draw Group A has wound up with three Championship clubs: Inverness, Falkirk and Brechin. Let's keep an eye on that group, as it'll serve as a preview to this year's Championship. Today Brechin visit Inverness, for the first time since 2004.
[Morton win 0 - 1. The goal is ruled an own goal; otherwise Tidser would have been the scorer.]
Also today in Group F: Queen's Park [1 - 5] Motherwell
[Group A standings after July 15:
Falkirk 3
Inverness CT 3
Forfar 0
Stirling Albion 0
Brechin 0
Group F standings after July 15:
Motherwell 3
Morton 3
Edinburgh City 0
Berwick 0
Queen's Park 0]
Jai Quitongo is back from a seven months' injury. Most of Jai Quitongo's goals last year were scored in the League Cup, including one against Berwick.
Jai Quitongo's goals:
date park opponent goaltender competition
2016/7/23 Rugby Kilmarnock Jamie MacDonald League Cup
2016/7/30 Cappielow Berwick Sean Brennan League Cup
2016/8/9 New Douglas Hamilton Remi Matthews League Cup
2016/9/18 Cappielow Dunfermline David Hutton league
2016/9/20 Cappielow Dundee Utd Cameron Bell League Cup
2016/10/15 Palmerston QoS Lee Robinson league
The close season, length of. Morton's last game of 2016-17 was May 12th, 64 days ago. Was this Morton's shortest close season ever? Yes.
(During the Second World War the Summer Cup sat in the middle of the close season and divided it into stretches of about 40 and 50 days. Taken together these stretches add up to much more than the usual 21st Century close season.)
What was Morton's longest close season? It depends on what you count. In 1899 Morton were through with the league and Scottish Cup by Feb 18th, but they were busy with the Glasgow and West of Scotland League and the Renfrewshire Cup until well into May.
It looks as if the 125 days between April 8th and August 12th 1950 qualify as Morton's longest close season.
UEFA Champions League 2QR, first leg:
Rijeka (Croatia) 2 - 0 The New Saints
Linfield 0 - 2 Celtic
UEFA Europa League 2QR, first leg:
Vaduz (Liechtenstein) 0 - 1 Odd (Norway)
Vaduz are in the Swiss Challenge League this year.
Östersund (Sweden) 2 - 0 Galatasaray (Turkey)
Fouad Bachirou plays for Östersund.
Progrès Niederkorn (Luxembourg) 0 - 1 AEL Limassol (Cyprus)
Niederkorn are the giant-killers who knocked Rangers out of the first qualifying round.
Aberdeen 1 - 1 Široki Brijeg (Bosnia)
This is Aberdeen's fourth straight year in the Europa League. They consistently get knocked out in the third qualifying round.
How far have Celtic gone in Europe each year this century, and who knocked them out?
2000-01 UC R2 Bordeaux
2001-02 UC R3 Valencia
2002-03 UC F Porto
2003-04 UC QF Villarreal
2004-05 CL GS Milan, Barcelona, Shakhtar Donetsk
2005-06 CL 2Q Artmedia
2006-07 CL 16 Milan
2007-08 CL 16 Barcelona
2008-09 CL GS Manchester United, Villarreal, Aalborg BK
2009-10 EL GS Hapoel Tel Aviv, Hamburg, Rapid Wien
2010-11 EL PO Utrecht
2011-12 EL GS Atlético Madrid, Udinese, Rennes
2012-13 CL 16 Juventus
2013-14 CL GS Barcelona, Milan, Ajax
2014-15 EL 32 Internazionale
2015-16 EL GS Molde, Fenerbahçe, Ajax
2016-17 CL GS Barcelona, Manchester City, Borussia Mönchengladbach
(CL = Champions League; UC = UEFA Cup; EL = Europa Cup; F = final; QF = quarter-final; 16 = last 16; 32 = last 32; GS = group stage; PO = playoff round; 2Q = second qualifying round; R3 = third round; R2 = second round.)
Japan:
FC Maruyasu Okazaki [3 - 4] ReinMeer Aomori
Vanraure Hachinohe [2 - 1] FC Osaka
Blancdieu Hirosaki [3 - 2] Nippon Steel Kamaishi
Morioka Zebra [2 - 1] Fuji Club 2003
Urawa Red Diamonds [2 - 3] Borussia Dortmund
Germany:
Fortuna Köln (1 - 1) 1. FC Saarbrücken (July 11th)
Viktoria Köln (0 - 2) 1. FC Saarbrücken (July 14th)
I'm going to follow 1. FC Saarbrücken this year. But that 1. at the beginning of the club name is already giving me headaches. Not only does it look like part of the score, my software takes it as a signal to start making a numbered column.