Matthaeus Wants Bulgarians to 'Turn German' Ahead of England Clash

Bulgarian national soccer team head coach Lothar Matthaeus performs during his team`s training session in Pravec, Bulgaria, 31 August 2011. Bulgaria will face England in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying soccer match on 02 September. EPA/BGNES

Bulgaria's national football team players should imagine they are German during Friday's crucial Euro 2012 qualifier against England in Sofia, their coach, Lothar Matthaeus, has said.

"My players should do their best. They should be like Germans on Friday. They know they are facing England and they should show the best they can," Matthaeus has commented on the upcoming game, as cited by the BGNES news agency.

Matthaeus has revealed that he will assign only one defender to mark Wayne Rooney. "Rooney is an extraordinary player, but I will not assign two men to mark him," he has claimed.

The former German international has also named 7 players who will surely be among Bulgaria's starting team on Friday. These are: goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov (FC Twente), defenders Ivan Ivanov (Partizan Belgrade) and Peter Zanev (Litex Lovech), midfielders Blagoy Georgiev (Terek Grozny) and Stiliyan Petrov (Aston Vila), winger Martin Petrov (Bolton Wanderers) and forward Ivelin Popov (Gaziantepspor).

England are first in Group G with 11 points, followed by Montenegro, also with 11. Switzerland are third with 5 points – as many as Bulgaria – and Wales are 5th with 0 points.

With two matches left at home against England in September and Wales in October, Bulgaria have only theoretical chances to make it to the second spot in Group G that can give them the opportunity to fight for a place at Euro 2012.

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