The Bulgarian national football team found a good reason to finish the European qualifiers on a high note.
The qualifying campaign for Euro 2008 is almost lost, but Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) president Borislav Mihailov and team coach Dimitar Penev are working hard to explain to the players how important it is to win all the remaining matches. Doing so would be crucial for the upcoming World Cup 2010 qualifiers draw which is to be held on November 25 in the host country South Africa.
Bulgaria is on the verge of dropping from third to fourth seed. If this happens, it will considerably reduce the country’s chances of reaching the final tournament. At a meeting in Istanbul three weeks ago, UEFA decided for the first time to use FIFA World Rankings to distribute the 53 participant countries into different pots to make up eight groups of six and one group of five teams. The nine best-ranked will be top seeded, the teams between 10th and 18th place in the World Rankings will form the second pot and so on.
Bulgaria currently is 25th best in Europe. That means, two places over the fourth seeded group. Calculation of the ranking takes into account the past four years (result, importance of match, strength of opponents, regional strength, number of matches). There are two monthly rankings to come (September, October 2007), the first in a week’s time. The rankings for October will be taken into consideration for the draw.
Mihailov and Penev devoted much effort before the Ocotber 17 qualifier with Albania, (1:1) convincing the players about the importance of the last two games in the Euro 2008 campaign: home to Romania on November 17 and away to Slovenia on November 21, although Bulgaria lost hope of taking the first two places in the group after Romania beat Holland 1:0 on October 13. The Romanians need two wins, away to Luxembourg and home to Albania while the Dutch can afford themselves a draw away to Belarus on November 21.
Mihailov tried to exploit the players’ devotion and loyalty to Penev to wake them up. The BFU president said it was possible to hire a foreign coach for the next campaign, and the remaining two matches will be significant. He wanted to do the same last summer, but the players asked for Penev and their wish was granted. Penev said he wants three wins out of the last three games, and that will make an impact on his decision if he wants to remain as a coach.
In the other groups, there is still a lot to happen. Qualifying for the European Championship has thrown up relatively few surprises. Of the 14 teams who qualified for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany, 12 could reach Euro 2008. In Group A, three teams, Poland, Portugal and Finland, are contesting the two visas.
In Group B, when the qualifying draw was done in January last year, matters looked particularly cruel for Scotland. Italy, France and Ukraine all reached the quarter-finals in the World Cup with Italy and France the finalists. Now Scotland looks one victory away from the Euro 2008 – at home against Italy on November 17.
In Group C, reigning champions Greece are set for the first place while Turkey and Norway battle for the second. On November 17, Turkey is away to Norway in what is likely to be the decider. Group D is the only one with the intrigue already finished. Germany took first place and the Czechs edged out Ireland for the second. In Group F, it is almost the same as Sweden and Spain first and second with the Northern Irish and the Danes eliminated. It looked wide open until Northern Ireland fell apart with consecutive losses to Iceland and Latvia.
Group E promises a dramatic finale. England’s hopes of reaching Euro 2008 now hang by a thread after Russia came from behind to win 2:1 in Moscow on October 17.
