Depleted England welcome 'dangerous' Bulgaria

Following a below-par performance at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, England embark on their journey to reach UEFA EURO 2012 without injured Chelsea FC duo Frank Lampard and John Terry.

Team news
• Lampard (hernia) and Terry (hamstring) both miss out, as does Fulham FC's Bobby Zamora (thigh), while Tottenham Hotspur FC striker Peter Crouch withdrew from the selection with a back problem. Captain Rio Ferdinand remains unavailable with the knee ligament injury he picked up at the World Cup, while goalkeeper Scott Carson returns to the fray almost two years after his last cap.

• "Bulgaria are a dangerous team," explained Capello. "I watched three games that they played: two before the World Cup and the last against Russia. They lost 1-0 but they played very well. It will be a tough game that we will play here at Wembley."

• England squad
Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Manchester City FC), Scott Carson (West Bromwich Albion FC), Ben Foster (Birmingham City FC)
Defenders: Glen Johnson (Liverpool FC), Michael Dawson (Tottenham Hotspur FC), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Matthew Upson (West Ham United FC), Gary Cahill (Bolton Wanderers FC), Ashley Cole (Chelsea FC), Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal FC), Joleon Lescott (Manchester City FC)
Midfielders: James Milner (Manchester City FC), Theo Walcott (Arsenal FC), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool FC), Gareth Barry (Manchester City FC), Michael Carrick (Manchester United FC), Ashley Young (Aston Villa FC), Adam Johnson (Manchester City FC), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City FC)
Forwards: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United FC), Darren Bent (Sunderland AFC), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur FC), Carlton Cole (West Ham United FC)

• Stanimir Stoilov has selected a squad almost exclusively comprising overseas players, with Veselin Minev and Ivelin Popov the only members of the 21-man party to play their football in Bulgaria.

• Bulgaria squad
 Goalkeepers: Nikolay Mihaylov (FC Twente), Vladislav Stoyanov (FC Sheriff)
 Defenders: Zhivko Milanov (FC Vaslui), Ivan Ivanov (FC Alania Vladikavkaz), Zahari Sirakov (FC Amkar Perm), Iliyan Stoyanov (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Stanislav Manolev (PSV Eindhoven), Veselin Minev (PFC Levski Sofia)
 Midfielders: Stanislav Angelov (FC Steaua Bucureşti), Chavdar Yankov (FC Rostov), Stiliyan Petrov (Aston Villa FC), Stanislav Genchev (FC Vaslui), Georgi Peev (FC Amkar Perm), Nikolai Dimitrov (Kasimpasa SK), Martin Petrov (Bolton Wanderers FC)
 Forwards: Iliyan Mitsanski (1.FC Kaiserlsautern), Valeri Domovchiyski (Hertha BSC Berlin), Valeri Bozhinov (Parma FC), Martin Kamburov (Dalien Shide FC), Dimitar Rangelov (BV Borussia Dortmund), Ivelin Popov (PFC Litex Lovech)

Match background
• England's record in eight games against Bulgaria reads W4 D4 L0 (W2 D3 L0 in England).

• The two nations have met eight times in total, with their first encounter coming on 7 June 1962 at the World Cup finals in Chile. A 0-0 draw was enough for England to scrape through to the knockout phase, while Bulgaria, already sure of elimination, bowed out as the bottom side in their section.

• Of their seven other previous meetings, three were friendlies and the remainder were qualifiers for the 1980 UEFA European Championship and UEFA EURO 2000.

• England's biggest home win against Bulgaria was a 2-0 triumph on the road to the former competition, with Dave Watson and Glenn Hoddle scoring the goals at the old Wembley Stadium.

• England's most comfortable victory against Bulgaria came in Sofia five months earlier, when Kevin Keegan, Watson again and Peter Barnes found the net in a 3-0 victory.

• England won all five of their 2010 World Cup qualifiers at home by an aggregate scoreline of 21-3. However, their most recent UEFA European Championship qualifier at Wembley ended in a 3-2 loss to Croatia, which resulted in Steve McClaren's team failing to reach UEFA EURO 2008.