Corsica Puts Bulgaria to Shame 1:0

The glory days for both the Bulgarian national footbal team and its coach Lothar Matthaeus seem to be over.Photo by BGNES

The Bulgarian national football squad suffered a humiliating defeat in a friendly against the team of Corsica, where it is on a preparation camp ahead of a Euro 2012 qualifier.

The former Barcelona player Ludovic Giuly scored the sole goal in the match in the 72nd minute after taking advantage of a grave mistake by Bulgarian goalkeeper Vladimir Stoyanov and defender Apostol Popov.

The match on Tuesday evening was the last test for the Bulgarian squad ahead of their Euro 2012 Group G qualifier against Montenegro on June 4.

Brazilian-born midfielder Marquinhos, one of five Bulgarian Cup-winning CSKA Sofia players in the 22-man squad, made his debut at the national team on Tuesday evening.

Coach Lothar Matthaeus relied on two different line-ups of the squad in the first and second half of the game.

During the first half his selected team featured:

Nikolay Mihaylov (Twente Enschede), Ivan Bandalovski (CSKA Sofia), Yordan Miliev (Levski Sofia), Ivan Ivanov (Alania Vladikavkaz), Petar Zanev (Litex Lovech), Stilian Petrov (Aston Villa), Chavdar Yankov (Rostov), Spas Delev (CSKA Sofia), Ivelin Popov (Gaziantepspor), Martin Petrov (Bolton Wanderers) and Tsvetan Genkov (Wisla Krakow)

In the second half the eleven members included:

Stanislav Manolev (PSV Eindhoven), Vladislav Stoyanov, Nikolay Bodurov (Litex Lovech), Apostol Popov, Rumen Trifonov (CSKA Sofia), Boris Galchev (CSKA Sofia), Marquinhos (CSKA Sofia), Ivan Stoyanov (Alania Vladikavkaz), Hristo Yanev (Litex Lovech), Nikolay Dimitrov and Dimitar Makriev (Krylya Sovietov)

The Euro 2012 qualifying game in Podgorica on June 4 is a must-win for Bulgaria if it is to cherish any realistic hope of making it to next year's finals.

England and Montenegro share the top seat of Group G with 10 points from four games. Switzerland are third and Bulgaria fourth, both with four points from as many matches.

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