Matthäus' Bulgaria looking for miracle
Saturday, July 30, 2011
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Without a home goal so far in Group G, Lothar Matthäus' Bulgaria side need a little miracle to keep their faint UEFA EURO 2012 hopes alive when England visit Sofia.
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Lothar Matthäus's Bulgaria have a chance to propel themselves back into the running for a place at UEFA EURO 2012 but they will need a small miracle to take it as England head for Sofia.
• Six points adrift of Group G's leading pair, England and Montenegro, Bulgaria still have a chance of reaching the play-offs, but need to beat England by a scoreline that would cancel out the 4-0 loss they suffered under Stanimir Stoilov in their opening qualifier on 3 September last year.
• Jermain Defoe scored a memorable hat-trick in that Wembley game, rounding off his treble in fine style in the 86th minute. Substitute Adam Johnson had just added a third with Wayne Rooney helping to lay on all four goals.
• Bulgaria have yet to score a home goal in Group G and their history against England hardly augurs well, their record from nine previous games reading W0 D4 L5 (W0 D2 L1 in Sofia). Bulgaria have scored only twice in those fixtures while conceding 13 times.
• The nations' first encounter came on 7 June 1962 at the FIFA World Cup finals in Chile. A 0-0 draw was enough for England to scrape through to the knockout phase, while Bulgaria, already consigned to 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.
• With West Germany and Germany, Matthäus featured in six international games against England with the record W2 D1 L3 (W2 D0 L2 in England). He was one of the scorers as West Germany defeated England 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the 1990 World Cup semi-finals.
• Matthäus was later in the FC Bayern München side beaten 2-1 by Manchester United FC in the 1999 UEFA Champions League final. His last encounter with English opponents was as coach of FK Partizan – his side lost 1-0 at home then won 1-0 away in a 2003/04 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie against Newcastle United FC, prevailing 4-3 on penalties.
