SOFIA. Bulgaria manages to find the solution against Northern Ireland to win 2-1. T. Nedelev was the key to score 2 goals. It was Northern Ireland to strike first with a goal of C. Washington at the 35′. Then it was a goal in the 53′ minute to make things even for 1-1. Eventually, T. Nedelev gave the win to Bulgaria in the 63′ minute with a goal scoring a double.
The match was played at the Stadion Slavija stadium in Sofia on Tuesday and it started at 6:45 pm local time. The referee was Aleksey Kulbakov with the assistance of Dmitri Zhuk and Oleg Maslyanko. The 4th official was Dmitri Dmitriev. The weather was cloudy. The temperature was cold at 7.5 degrees Celsius or 45.46 Fahrenheit. The humidity was 94%.
Match Statistics
- 46 Ball Possession 54
Shots
- 13 Total 14
- 6 On Target 6
- 7 Off Target 8
- 0 Shots blocked 1
- 95 Attack 108
- 33 Dangerous attack 37
- 72 Ball safe 94
- 0 Penalties 0
- 10 Corners 5
- 2 Off Sides 3
Fouls
- 15 Total 13
- 1 Yellow Cards 2
- 0 Double Yellow 0
- 0 Red Card 0
Other
- 5 Substitutions 4
There was not much difference in terms of ball possession. Bulgaria was in possession of the ball for 46% of the time vs. Northern Ireland that controlled the ball for 54% of the time.
Northern Ireland was more aggressive with 37 dangerous attacks and 14 shots of which 6 were on target. Anyhow, Bulgaria was capable to find the solution to win this match.
Bulgaria shot 13 times, 6 on target, 7 off target. On the opposite side, Northern Ireland shot 14 times, 6 on target, 8 off target.
Cards
Bulgaria received 1 yellow card (K. Malinov). On the opposite side, Northern Ireland received 3 yellow cards (D. Ballard, I. Baraclough and S. Dallas).
Match Timeline
Standings
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Group I
Group J
After playing this contest, Bulgaria will have 8 points to stay in the 3rd place. On the opposite side, Northern Ireland will stay with 5 points to stay in the 4th place.
Next matches
In the next match in the WC Qualification Europe, Bulgaria will play away with Switzerland on the 15th of November with a 2-0 head to head in favor of Switzerland (2 draws).
Northern Ireland will host Lithuania on the 12th of November with a 1-0 head to head stats in favor of Northern Ireland (0 draws).
Bulgaria – Formation
Bulgaria
73'
53', 63'
88'Bulgaria started with a 4-3-1-2 line-up (4-3-1-2).
The manager Yasen Petrov decided to play with the following team: Ivan Karadzhov , Ivan Turitsov , Petko Hristov , Andrea Hristov , Dimitar Velkovski , Radoslav Tsonev , Ivajlo Chochev , Borislav Tsonev , Todor Nedelev , Atanas Iliev and Kiril Despodov .
The home team had on the bench: Ilian Iliev , Spas Delev, Vasil Bozhikov, Petar Vitanov, Radoslav Kirilov, Dominik Yankov , Dimitar Iliev, Martin Lukov, Kristiyan Malinov , Kaloyan Krastev , Svetoslav Vutsov and Birsent Karagaren.
Substitutions
Bulgaria made 5 changes: R. Tsonev for I. Iliev (46′), B. Tsonev for K. Malinov (73′), T. Nedelev for D. Yankov (73′), A. Iliev for K. Krastev (79′) and K. Despodov for V. Bozhikov (90′).
Best player: Todor Nedelev
The player that probably impressed the most for Bulgaria was Todor Nedelev.
His rating is with 2 goals, 37 passes (94% accurate) and 1 key pass. He was won 1 duel out of 3. He performed 5 crosses.
Northern Ireland – Formation
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland started with a 5-3-2 line-up (5-3-2).
On the opposite side, Ian Baraclough played with: Bailey Peacock-Farrell , Conor Bradley , Daniel Ballard , Craig Cathcart , Tom Flanagan , Shane Ferguson , Paddy McNair , Steven Davis , Jordan Thompson , Conor Washington and Josh Magennis .
They had on the bench: Alfie McCalmont, Stuart Dallas , Niall McGinn , Liam Hughes, Jordan Jones , Paul Smyth, Carl Winchester, Dion Charles , Conor Hazard and Ciaron Brown.
Substitutions
Northern Ireland made 4 changes: J. Magennis for S. Dallas (67′), C. Bradley for J. Jones (68′), C. Washington for D. Charles (82′) and D. Ballard for N. McGinn (82′).
Best player: Jordan Thompson
The player that probably impressed the most for Northern Ireland was Jordan Thompson.
His rating is with 37 passes (70% accurate) and 1 key pass. He was won 6 duels out of 8. He performed 2 crosses.
Results of the day
These are the results of the day in the WC Qualification Europe.
- Kazakhstan – Finland – 0-2
- Portugal – Luxembourg – 5-0
- Serbia – Azerbaijan – 3-1
- Bulgaria – Northern Ireland – 2-1
- Lithuania – Switzerland – 0-4
- Kosovo – Georgia – 1-2
- Sweden – Greece – 2-0
- Denmark – Austria – 1-0
- Faroe Islands – Scotland – 0-1
- Israel – Moldova – 2-1
- Albania – Poland – 0-1
- England – Hungary – 1-1
