Bulgaria, Montenegro with Draw at Euro 2012 Qualifier

The coach of Bulgarian national football team, Lothar Matthaeus, praises the players for their second-half performance. Photo by BGNES

The Saturday Euro 2012 qualifier between the Bulgarian national football team and Montenegro in Podgorica ended with a draw – 1:1.

Radomir Djalovic put the hosts ahead in the 52nd minute, but 14 minutes later Ivelin Popov scored for Bulgaria, bringing the game to a tie.

The Bulgaria team performed quite differently during the first and the second half – they started with a weak play and improved significantly after half-time, prompting coach, German legend Lothar Matthaeus, to say the team entered the game with their "old mentality."

Matthaeus included in the line-up, Marquinhos, the Brazilian playmaker of CSKA Sofia, making this the latter's first ever match with the national team.

With the draw Montenegro missed the chance to move two points ahead at the top of European Championship qualifying Group G.

The other match, between England and Switzerland also ended with a draw – 2:2.

England and Montenegro now have 11 points; Bulgaria and Switzerland – 5 each; Wales is last with 0 points.

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