Bulgaria World Cup Hopes Receive Berbatov Body Blow

From The Irish Times

By Noel O'Reilly

Bulgaria's hopes of reviving their stuttering World Cup qualifying campaign against the Republic of Ireland were dealt a body blow yesterday when Dimitar Berbatov was ruled out through injury.

The Bulgaria captain will be conspicuous by his absence at Croke Park on Saturday after picking up an ankle injury during Manchester United's 2-0 defeat by Fulham. Berbatov, who failed to reappear after half-time at Craven Cottage, will also miss Wednesday week's home tie with Cyprus.

Having endured a calamitous start to their campaign under the now departed Plamen Markov, with a return of just three points from their opening three games, new coach Stanimir Stoilov had targeted the Ireland game as a potential turning point.

But things have already started to go wrong for Stoilov and Berbatov, whose importance to Bulgaria cannot be overstated, will be sorely missed. With a strike -rate of 41 goals in just 67 internationals, Berbatov is something of talisman for the national side.

His loss will be compounded by the continued absence of Manchester City midfielder Martin Petrov, while Leicester defender Alexandar Tunchev is also unavailable. It leaves Stoilov, who had planned to adopt an attacking 4-3-3 formation against Ireland, lacking in options when he needs them most.

"There's no chance of Berbatov playing against Ireland and Cyprus," was the official line from the Bulgarian camp yesterday.

"The injury will prevent any kind of football-related activity for the next two weeks," explained team doctor Mihail Iliev.

"I have talked to the Manchester United medical staff and I am expecting a fax with the details of the medical scans.
"We are talking about a muscle tear, which means his foot will be immovable for two weeks. It is most likely that he aggravated his old ankle injury."

Giovanni Trapattoni, on the other hand, has received a clean bill of health following the weekend action and the original squad selected (with the exception of Steve Finnan who withdrew with a hamstring injury last week) will assemble in Dublin tomorrow.

An Ireland win at Croke Park would effectively end Bulgaria's interest in Group Eight, with Trapattoni's as yet unbeaten side moving 10 points clear of the second seeds after five games. And with Italy next up, this squad are entering a pivotal stage.

Keith Andrews did his chances of retaining the central midfield role for the double header no harm on Saturday, coming off the bench to earn Blackburn a point against West Ham. Andrews, introduced at half-time, took just six minutes to make his mark with a confident finish from a narrow angle at Ewood Park.

In Scotland, Aiden McGeady, who was again joined in the Celtic starting line-up by Darren O'Dea for yesterday's disappointing 2-2 draw with Dundee United, has been linked for a second time with German giants Bayern Munich.

Trapattoni is reported to have been sounded out by his former employers on the winger's qualities last week, with the Italian happy to recommend the 22-year-old to them.

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