Dimitar Penev, the newly appointed coach of Bulgarias national football team did not share the opinion of his players that a draw in Amsterdam would be a good result. Bulgaria is to play a decisive game against the Netherlands on September 8, which may decide the outcome of group G and who will go to Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland. For Penev this means that everybody should be thinking in the right direction and this means only one thing for him: victory! We have a few days to go and I hope some players will change their mind, Penev told a news conference on September 5.
The situation in the group is difficult enough. Bulgaria is competing with the Netherlands and Romania for that precious first place that will see the team qualify for Austria. The best second team, of all groups will also qualify, and this makes it a possible plan B option. If Bulgaria does not loose in Amsterdam, the team will stay in second place in the group. The current group leader is Romania, with 17 points from seven games. Second is Bulgaria with 16 points from seven games and the Netherlands team is third with 15 points, but they have played one game less.
Indeed the Netherlands seem to be the toughest team in the group, although Romania should not be underestimated. Last year Bulgaria scored a draw against the Dutch in Sofia and a draw is now regarded by some of the players as satisfactory. This is why Penev might have some problems motivating his players, who from the start of their preparation for the match, on September 3, have been stating that a win will be nice, but a draw would not be bad either. With Penev, however, the players have got it wrong thinking that way. As the most successful Bulgarian coach and football legend Penev is known for one thing. He bets everything on offensive football and massive and sudden pressure that results in two or three goals in the back of the opponents net.
He believes offensive football is the right answer to the strong Dutch attack. Our defence is capable of resisting but we need points and we are not going to play 90 minutes in our own half. We have to be aggressive in order to take something away from Netherlands, Penev said.
Team captain Dimitar Berbatov is calling for people not to expect wonders. The truth is they are favourites to win the game and its not bad to be in an outsider role. The draw corresponds to our resources. There are no invincible teams so we will try to win. We respect the Netherlands but we are not scared.
The game will be shown live on Bulgarian National Television on September 8 and will show whether Penev or Berbatov was right.
