Bulgaria's next opponents in group C3 of the UEFA Nations League tournament are of one mind with greater self-confidence than Belarus, believes national selector Ilian Iliev, quoted by BTA.
The first meeting of the lions ended 0:0 in the Hungarian city of Zalaegerszeg, and the second match is coming up on Sunday – host of Northern Ireland in Plovdiv. The fourth team in the stream is Luxembourg, with whom Bulgaria plays on October 12 and November 15.
"The other two teams probably won't let us play like that. Northern Ireland in particular rely on long balls, one-on-ones, second-ball possession. I understand that for the 2-0 win over Luxembourg, the two central defenders scored the goals, so it was from set pieces. If we put the ball on the ground and with the audience, if we perform at a level, we can win," Iliev revealed his expectations for the second match of the tournament.
It is clear that after being sent off with a red card, Filip Krastev will not be available for Sunday's match. The coach of Bulgaria also focused on this moment, and he was also asked how the absence of the playmaker of PEK Zwolle (Netherlands) will be compensated.
"We can't blame anyone for the red card. He wanted to take the ball away, he was late and that's what happened. I only blame him for not playing in the next match". Iliev has already refused to blame the youth of Slavia, but stated that he is satisfied with the whole team and their desire to win with one less person.
"Who will make up for his absence? We have 22 field players and 3 goalkeepers. In the past controls, we changed 5-6 people each. But these are times when someone can come out now and hit the table.
Then the coach commented on the performance of Valentin Antov as a defensive midfielder, who replaced the previously planned, but sick Georgi Kostadinov.
"Antov has also played in this position in other matches, while in his club he is a central defender in the three. However, we don't play with three and midfielders. But he picked up a kick in the leg in the first half which affected him further, unfortunately. He is an extremely important player, but we changed him because we had decided to finish with more offensive players like Martin Minchev and Ivan Minchev.
In the Nations League tournament, the winners of each group qualify for participation in a higher division from the next edition. The 2nd placed teams enter a playoff system for promotion or retention. However, the 2024/25 Nations League will be partially linked to the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, where the top four unplaced teams from the standard qualifiers will qualify for play-offs for the next world championship.