Cyprus inflicted a humiliating 4-1 thrashing on Bulgaria on October 10 2009 in the World Cup Group Eight, eliminating Bulgaria from any chance of reaching the finals in South Africa in 2010.
 
Hapless Bulgaria did not stand a chance, as quick-paced and determined Cyprus dominated proceedings throughout the encounter. And as the match degenerated further into a Greek tragedy for Bulgaria, with a tint of Cypriot flavour, the Bulgarian side continued to concede goals as the travelling support unleashed a barrage of abuse towards the Bulgarian bench. .
 
APOEL Nicosia’s Konstantinos Charalampidis was first on the score sheet for the hosts  in the 10^th minute, having received a cross from the left. If that goal shook Bulgaria’s, they failed to display any coherent way of coping with the pressure. Instead of going forward, the Bulgarians tiptoed around only to receive a second goal from Charampidis nine minutes later.
 
Two nil down, and it was not the familiar feeling of ‘one of those nights’ when Dimitar Berbatov scored seconds before half-time to give the visitors that badly needed morale boost and a forlorn hope.
 
Second half under way, and Blagoy Georgiev, who assisted Berbatov’s goal, was unable to score, striking the woodwork on two occasions.
 
Eventually hopes for Bulgaria to claw itself into the match were dissipated as Michael Konstantinou pounced on a defensive error from Ivan Ivanov and volleyed the ball into the net in the 59^th minute for 3-1
 
The execution was complete with Aloneftis finishing off the game with a goal from a through pass, received from Charalampidis in the 79^th minute, 4-1.
 
In the aftermath of this first ever defeat at the hands of Cyprus, the future of Stanimir Stoilov at the helm of Bulgaria appears to be bleak at best. What made the match particularly difficult to digest was the harsh reality of four conceded goals, and several spilled chances by Cyprus, which could have made the final score truly insulting, if at all possible.
 
"It was a shock for us, we played really badly. Cyprus was the better team and I congratulate them," Bulgaria coach Stoilov said. "All I can do is, honestly and humbly, apologise to our traveling fans," he was quoted as saying by the media following the fiasco.
 
Cyprus: Sofronis Avgousti, Marinos Satsias, Paraskevas Christou, Chrysostomos Michail, Constantinos Charalambides, Marios Ilia (Marios Nikolaou, 75) Konstantinos Makridis, Michael Constantinou (Andreas Papathanasiou, 90) Efstathios Aloneftis (Giorgos Efrem, 85) Andreas Avraam, Sinisa Dobrasinovic.
 
Bulgaria: Dimitar Ivankov (Nikolay Mihaylov, 68) Dimitar Berbatov, Martin Petrov, Veselin Minev, Valeri Bozhinov (Valeri Domovchiyski, 64), Blagoy Georgiev, Plamen Nikolov, Stiliyan Petrov, Stanislav Angelov, Ivan Ivanov, Kostadin Stoyanov