Bulgaria Faces Italy in Decisive EURO 2016 Qualifier

Sports | March 28, 2015, Saturday // 17:10
Bulgaria: Bulgaria Faces Italy in Decisive EURO 2016 Qualifier After Italy cancelled its initially scheduled training at the Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia, the players appeared on the pitch in suits. Photo: BGNES

Bulgaria's men national football team faces Italy on Saturday in matchday 5 of the EURO 2016 qualification Group H.

The outcome of the match will to a large extent determine whether Bulgaria will preserve its meager chances of qualifying for EURO 2016.

This will be the first official match for Bulgaria's new coach Ivaylo Petev, who succeeded Lyuboslav Penev after the team recorded several poor performances under his performance.

Petev still has not announced the new captain of the team and he intends to do so immediately before the start of the match.

Italian coach Antonio Conte will be forced to make some changes to his squad as several key players such as Claudio Marchisio and Alessandro Florenzi are injured.

This will be the 18th encounter between Bulgaria and Italy, with the Italians having established a convincing advantage in the previous matches, recording 9 victories, 6 draws and only 2 defeats.

Bulgaria and Italy were in the same group in the qualifications for the 2014 World Cup, which was held in Brazil.

Then Bulgaria performed relatively well against its opponent, managing to draw 2-2 in Sofia and conceding a minimum 0-1 defeat in Palermo.

At present Bulgaria occupies the fourth position in Group H with 4 points, behind the joint leaders Croatia and Italy, each with 10 points, and third-placed Norway with 9 points.

The match, which kicks off at 21:45, will be played at the Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia and will be broadcasted live on BNT1 and BNT HD with a commentary studio starting at 21:00.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!

Sports » Be a reporter: Write and send your article
Tags: Bulgaria, football, Italy, Euro 2016, qualification, Group H, Ivaylo Petev, Lyuboslav Penev, Antonio Conte, world cup, Vasil Levski National Stadium, sofia

Advertisement
Advertisement
Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily online newspaper "Sofia Morning News." Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) and Sofia Morning News publish the latest economic, political and cultural news that take place in Bulgaria. Foreign media analysis on Bulgaria and World News in Brief are also part of the web site and the online newspaper. News Bulgaria