Sweden thump Bulgaria 3-0

Sweden produced a second-half blast to beat Bulgaria 3-0 in their World Cup Group Eight qualifier yesterday and stay firmly in the hunt for a place in the finals.

After a goalless first half the game changed in the 49th minute when Bulgarian midfielder Blagoy Georgiev was sent off for a bad tackle on Arsenal midfielder Fredrik Ljungberg.

The Swedes took full advantage of the extra space, stretching their opponents and scoring three times in the last half hour with all three goals coming as Bulgaria's exhausted central defenders Elin Topuzakov and Valentin Iliev were caught out for pace.

Ljungberg put Sweden ahead with a left-foot shot from 12 metres after a masterful pirouette in the 60th minute, central defender Olof Mellberg headed home in the 75th minute and Juventus striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic added a close-range third in the 90th minute.

The result gives Sweden 18 points from seven games, one point behind group leaders Croatia who play Malta on Wednesday.

"It was not an easy match," said Sweden coach Lars Lagerback.

"In the second half we were clearly better and stable. After the first goal we just rolled on," he said, pointing out that goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson had made a couple of "decisive" saves.

Yesterday's victory continued a long line of big wins for the Swedes over Bulgaria. They won the reverse qualifier in Sofia 3-0 in March following a 5-0 win in the group stage of the 2004 Euro Championship and a 4-0 triumph in the 1994 World Cup third place playoff.