Bulgarian NT Lose Two Games, Manager, Sense of Self

Martin Petrov mourns the Montenegrin manhandling

What a week for the Lions of Bulgaria: thrashed 4-0 at Wembley by a half-interested England, and then defeated 1-0 at home last night by the mighty Montenegro (FIFA ranking: a surprisingly high 72).

The losses were enough to cause manager Stanimir Stoilov to turn in his whistle, keys, and clipboard to leave the side with no points and no boss. Said Stoilov, “I wanted the team to get to the finals but it’s obvious that after two defeats, one at home, it’s going to be very difficult.”

It’s admirable of him to acknowledge the problems that lie ahead, but we think he’s a bit drastic: with still 6 games in the group to play and only two teams holding any points—England and Montenegro both sit on 6, while Wales and the Swiss are both on 0 after just one game—the fight’s not over yet. Worse still, the new guy’s looking at an uphill climb, whereas Stoilov was merely looking at a steep-ish climb to get back in the hunt.

I mean, c’mon, it could be worse: you could be Portugal, sitting on one point after games against Cyprus (an epic 4-4 draw) and a 1-0 defeat in Norway. They’re making a habit of being rubbish in qualifying, as are the French (though we can’t kid too much; they did win 2-0 in Sarajevo last night), but now we should probably bid farewell to Bulgaria, now that they’ve lost everything of real worth in the last week. Wait… sorry, Petrovs Martin and Stilyan. You guys are great too.

I tried to find a clip of Montenegro’s game-winner, a ferocious 35-yard pile-driver from Elsad Zverotic, but I failed. You’ll just have to imagine it with your imaginations.