Fox Sports World will show your game live? That's great news...now you can chew off your fingernails and be a nervous wreck in peace! ha ha...

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Welcome to the forum, stoichkov66! where are you from?

Chavdar Yankov had two full-exertion training sessions today, which gives hope that he will be in perfect shape for the Sofia match. Berbatov, however, doesn't look good. Stoitchkov commented that Dimitar will play regardles of how many injections he would have to take to ease the pain or how many trainings /if any/ he would have had before the match

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CSKA Sofia won the Bulgarian Super Cup vs. Levski after 0:0 in full-time and 3:0 on the penalty shoot-out.

Hey good luck with the forum guys. May it conquer..

Now you should have not a problem against Hungary. Sweden could be difficult if your injuries arent right by then. But i ll be rooting for the Bulgars. It will be so cool when Cro and Bul get through and leave shhhweeeeden behind. Ajmo Hrvatska i Bugarska

P.s. Ibrahimovic isnt 100% So theres some good news...

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Hey xerx,

Where do you get those wallpapers? The Hun - Bul one. Any cro ones?

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The stadium: I hear from friends in BG that they plan to use only about
40.000 seats (and leave 3-4000 empty) for security reasons. Whatever
they decide to sell will go though - the interest for the game is enormous.

An article about the "Hristo-effect" in the Swedish papers today. There
are a few words of warning, but the general idea is that SWE will get the
3 points. We'll see about that...



BBB

heh, Cevapcici, I stole it........ no, no Hrvatski ones, this was the first one, but if the author comes up with another one, i'll post it here.

bibi, the "Hristo effect" is something no Bulgarian has expected to witness in these first months he's leading the team. Lars Lagerback said that himself: "If Stoitchkov is so good a coach as a footballer, problems await us." However, we can notice the "if" in the beginning. Still, many are not sure how Stoitchkov is doing it, and they will remain unconvinced until Hristo takes us to a major tournament such as the World Cup. Yet, Bulgarians alone have the chance to see on a regular basis the production of Stoitchkov's efforts. Our performance in the matches since Stoitchkov became head coach has improved considerably. After all, we haven't lost 8 games in a row:

Friendly, Aug: Republic of Ireland - Bulgaria 1:1 (1:0; 1:1 Bojinov)
WCQ, Sep: Iceland - Bulgaria 1:3 (0:2 Berbatov (2); 1:2; 1:3 Yanev)
WCQ, Oct: Croatia - Bulgaria 2:2 (2:0; 2:1 M Petrov; 2:2 Berbatov)
WCQ, Oct: Bulgaria - Malta 4:1 (0:1; 1:1 Berbatov; 2:1 Yanev; 3:1 Berbatov; 4:1 Yankov)
Friendly, Nov: Azerbaijan - Bulgaria 0:0
Friendly, Nov: Egypt - Bulgaria 1:1 (1:0; 1:1 Gargorov)
Friendly, Dec: Province Valenciana - Bulgaria 1:2 (0:1 Berbatov; 0:2 Manchev; 1:2)
Friendly, Feb: Bulgaria - Serbia and Montenegro 0:0

That is: Berbatov (6 goals); Yanev (2 goals); Bojinov, M Petrov, Yankov, Gargorov, Manchev (1 goal). This illustrates how vital Mitko Berbatov is to our team. If he's not able to play at full capacity vs the Swedes, it will definitely show.

As for Stoitchkov, he has brought into the team young lads and trusted them. No other BUL coach has done that in recent years, but Hristo has proven himself right. Yankov and Georgiev shine the brightest, while Yanev, Bukarev, Karaslavov and Gargorov have also left positive impressions. None of them had been given the chance to assert themselves in the team before Stoitchkov. Ico Stoitchkov is simply not afraid to experiment, and at the same time he does not give more credit to the experienced players than they deserve. Other coaches, such as Bonev have made that mistake.

Ico's greatest achievement, however, is that he has been able to give from his winning spirit to the players. Just look at the matches above! Would we have been able to come back into some of them after initally losing? Ico's mentality is what let us get what we deserve against Croatia, Ireland and Egypt. Every other coach would've lost those games. I'm so glad to see the boys believing him and unafraid to go compete on the pitch against such famous names as Ibrahimovic, Ljungberg and Mellberg. Blagodarim ti, Ico! Gazi nared!!!!!!!

On the photo on the left, Valeri Bojinov rivals for the ball with Dario Srna in the match vs Croatia in Zagreb (2:2). On the photo on the right, most expensive Bulgarian international Bojinov in action for ACF Fiorentina. Hristo Stoitchkov was the first one to see Valeri's great potential (even before his goaling series for US Lecce in the fall) by visiting him personally in Italy for his 18th birthday and inviting him to the NT:

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CSKA Sofia won the Bulgarian Super Cup vs. Levski after 0:0 in full-time and 3:0 on the penalty shoot-out.

Yes, indeed, the "head" game. Hristo seems very good at that.
I can't remember a Bulgarian coach before Hristo that has been
able to mentaly prepare the team so well.

And all the young players - also a big plus! I friend of mine watched
our 17yr-olds, win one game and tie one game against their
German peers. He said our boys played like a position on the
senior NT was at stake. Music to my ears

Hope Berbatov recovers and that we can battle about the midfield
with the Swedes. Then we will have a chance!



BBB

F*ck it!!! Yet another midfielder out. Badema (Emil Gergorov)
broke his arm in the quarter-final for the cup.

This will have to stop - or we will not have 11 men on the
field against Sweden!!!

BBB

Bibi, you probably know that Stoitchkov told Stoyan Kolev (PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv), Dimitar Telkiyski (PFC Levski Sofia) and Stoyko Sakaliev (PFC Naftex Burgas) to be ready to fill in for whoever leaves the initially announced squad. In the case of Gargorov injuring, another midfielder is needed - that would be Telkiyski. I can't believe how many Levski players have occupied the NT this time. It is turning "blue" and that frightens me!

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CSKA Sofia won the Bulgarian Super Cup vs. Levski after 0:0 in full-time and 3:0 on the penalty shoot-out.

Hey, wait a minute, blue is not all that bad... unless
they are completely untalanted (I used to play for the
Levski boy's team 1967-8 ... so you know where my heart
is)

BBB

PS the highlight of my "career" was to get the ball for Gundi
when he was practising free-kicks ...

A publication by Bulgarian newspaper "Novinar", Mar 16:

The management of the Croatian NT will send one of the coaches to follow the WC qualification between Bulgaria and Sweden on Mar 26.

That will most probably be Zlatko Kranjcar's assistant Marian Vlak. It wis him who was sent to watch our away win over Iceland 3:1.

According to rumors, the Croatians have had a hard time handling Bulgarians' traditionally strong performances against them and have proclaimed the win over the "lions" to be "goal No.1" in front of the team.

As known, the two teams drew 2:2 the first encounter. Before that, however, our national players took away whatever ambitions Croatians had to occupy 1st place in our Euro 2004 qualifying croup.

The situation at the moment shows Croatia as behind as third placed in the group. First are Sweden with 9 pts of 4 matches, right behind them are the Bulgarians with 7 pts together with Zlatko Kranjcar's team, which has worse goal difference.

This journalist is being too harsh on Croatians..... not that objectively written.

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CSKA Sofia won the Bulgarian Super Cup vs. Levski after 0:0 in full-time and 3:0 on the penalty shoot-out.

Berbatov will play this weekend (good!).

Almost all 38.000 tickets (to BG fans) are sold out. 11 TV channels
planned to cover the game live. (Must be a record for a BG-game).

Man, can't wait!!!

BBB

lol, Bibi, i wish I had seen Gundi personally, too will u believe that before u said that I thought u were 20-25 yrs old well, my greatest achievement was training with the U-19 team of FC Belite Orli Pleven.

as far as the game is concerned, i just hope Kishishev will be 100% physically fit the balance so far: S Petrov, M Petrov - suspended; Bojinov, Hristov, Gargorov - injured; Kishishev - recovering; Berbatov, Yankov and Zdravkov - completely recovered after injuries and will play this weekend!!!!! Here's something pretty interesting from today's press:

From Bulgarian newspaper Meridian Match, Mar 18:

Lars Lagerback: Apparently, Stoitchkov has done his homework.

Until last summer, while SWE was lead by two coaches, Sweden colleagues liked pointing out that Lagerback was the spokesperson of the two while Soderberg avoided journalists. I can see that from the very first moment at which the 56-year-old selectioner, on whom pretty much depends the fate of our NT in the World Cup qualifications, picks up the receiver in his office in the headquarters of the Swedish Football Association.

Mr. Lagerback, on Tuesday, you announced the team of the SWE NT for the qualification vs BUL. Were there any circumstances that affected your choice?

This is definitely the best that SWE has at the moment. Of course, there are injuries, the worst of which is Larsson's. Undoubtedly, we will miss him in Sofia. Mattias Jonson, who I so much rely on, is also slightly injured.

We can't help noticing that Andreas Jacobson, teammate of summoned Anders Svensson and Michael Nilsson in Southampton, is absent?

Jacobson decided not to take part in NT matches any more.

Why?

He simply wants to devote to the duties in his club Southampton. You know this team is struggling this season to avoid relegation from the Premier League. Added to that, Andreas wishes he had more time for his personal life.

Apart from Jacobson, who started against BUL at the Euro last summer in Portugal, Johan Mjalby, another central back, has also quit his career.

Yes, he was very badly injured which made him abandon his contract with Spanish Levante.

Don't you think that with those two absent, a serious hole appears in the center of SWE defence?

I have no other way to answer, but say that I have people at my service who will bring the necessary composure in the center of our defence.

On Monday, BUL NT selectioner Hristo Stoitchkov claimed at a press-conference to be familiar with the SWE NT from A to Z. How will you comment on that?

Apparently, Stoitchkov has done well his homework. Today, it is normal for an NT coach to say that he knows his future opponent's play in details. After all, we live in the reality of Internet and thousands of satellite televisions vomitting information 24/7. No doubt that the BUL NT management works ceaselessly in that repsect.

For so many years you have been coaching the NT together with Tommy Soderberg. In this year's qualificational cycle, you are on your own at the post. Do you miss your partner?

It is impossible not to miss someone you have worked and lived with for so long. That is, most of the time we basically lived together as our work required that. Otherwise, we woudn't have achieved the necessary synchron. Still, I'm in a perfect relationship with my current assistant Roland Andersson, as well.

What do you think of the new wave of NT selectioners such as BUL Stoitchkov, NED Marco van Basten and GER Klinsmann, who accepted such responsible positions without any previous coaching practice whatsoever?

Yet, but they have fantastic careers as footballers behind them. The experience acquired on the pitch is great and priceless. Sooner or later, they have to make a new step in their development. The NT coaching position is a great opportunity for them to prove their abilities in this sport once again. Naturally, it will take some time while their tactical ideas mature. The fact is, however, that Stoitchkov hasn't lost a single match ever since he took up the team, which is the argument needed to show no mistake was made in Sofia with his assignment to the post.

To be continued...

Lars Lagerback:

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CSKA Sofia won the Bulgarian Super Cup vs. Levski after 0:0 in full-time and 3:0 on the penalty shoot-out.

Yepp, I have seen the man and even talked to him (he was nice, even
to us little brats). Just wish I had enough sense to get an autograph!

And I certainly wish I was 20-25
(the sad truth is that I will be 48 in a few weeks, but I do hope
for an early b-day-present on the 26!)

That really was nice to get the interview with LarsL. He is a good coach.
There are some problems with the team, but tactics is not one of them.
Sweden has an unusually shaky defence (France showed that clearly
in Paris, although the result was only 1-1). Still, it will be difficult to
beat Sweden. They never give up.

At the same time I know intimidating Levski kan be (I remember a
couple of games from the late 60ies, especially one against good old
CCCP - don't remember why but the crowd got upset. I kid you not
one could feel "hate" pour down from the stands. I was about to
pie in my pants ). So, Levski "sold out" is GOOD!

BBB

hey, guys, the pic from the previous page on this thread was published in today's Bulgarian newspaper Meridian Match!! how cool is that

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CSKA Sofia won the Bulgarian Super Cup vs. Levski after 0:0 in full-time and 3:0 on the penalty shoot-out.