[attach id=242880 size="medium"]Goalkeeper Andrew Hogg wins possession during a training session in Sofia, yesterday. Photo: Paul Zammit Cutajar[/attach]
Bulgaria coach Lyuboslav Penev is urging his players to concentrate on their home qualifier against Malta tomorrow before they start to think about their potentially crucial trip to Denmark on Tuesday.
In many ways, Bulgaria’s situation mirrors that of Malta as much of the talk here in the last few days has been on the visit of Italy on Tuesday but Penev is adamant that the upcoming meeting with Denmark doesn’t divert his team’s attention from tomorrow’s match.
“We should not think about the game with Denmark because right now our top priority is the home match against Malta,” Penev told reporters before a training session yesterday.
Bulgaria’s positive start to their qualifying campaign has raised hopes that they could end their long wait to qualify for a major tourna-ment as they are second in Group B with six points from four games, four behind leaders Italy.
Penev lamented the fact that Bulgaria can’t bank on home support against Malta as the match will be played at an empty National Stadium Vasil Levski.
In fact, FIFA ordered Bulgaria to play their qualifier tomorrow evening behind closed doors after their fans made racist chants at Denmark defender Patrick Mtiliga on October 12.
“We will be without the support of our fans, which is not good of course, but it shouldn’t influence the performance of my players,” Penev said.
Malta may be the least-quoted in the group but Penev insisted things have changed on the inter-national scene.
“In my opinion, weak teams no longer exist,” Penev said.
“The strongest point of this Malta team is their counter-attacking play. We have done our homework and we must win this game.”
Penev reiterated his belief that Bulgaria can approach every game with a winning mentality.
“People may think that I am crazy but I’m mad within limit when I say that I want to win every game, no matter who the oppo-nents are,” Penev said.
“I don’t think that my players are under pressure because they should have been when the qualifying campaign began, not now when half of the games have already been played.
“I hope that we beat Malta and that the other game between Denmark and the Czech Republic ends in a draw. That would be very, very good for our chances.”
Goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov, who plays for Dutch side FC Twente, said: “We have already played against Denmark, Czech Republic and Italy. We’ve realised that these nations are not as strong as they were a few years back.
“Bulgaria have a realistic chance of finishing second in this group but we must overcome this hurdle first. And if we fail to do this, our efforts until now will have been futile.”
Meanwhile, Malta held their first training session in Sofia yesterday after flying into the Bulgarian capital in the afternoon.
National coach Pietro Ghedin has named an experienced squad for tomorrow’s qualifier, Malta’s first in 2013.
Last month, the national team drew 0-0 with Northern Ireland in a friendly match.
The national team will train at the Vasil Levski National Stadium this morning.