Match Report
First half:
The home side had won the coin toss and chose to play with the wind during the first half, leaving kick-off for Greece to deal with. They start the game through forward duo Saravakos and Dimitriadis.
Right from the first whistle it seems obvious that the pitch will struggle to cope too well with the amount of water coming from above. A good few spectators have brought their brollies to try and keep dry, but there is no such escape for the players, who have to try and deal with the situation as best they can. And early on the impetus does seem to be with the home side. They want nothing short of a win in the penultimate match of a dismal calendar year for the national team, so Mr Vutsov has his team lined up in an attacking formation. It may be 4-3-3, but Balakov to the left of midfield comes forward with a lot of intent, and the three pronged attack has Kostadinov to the right. When the home side attack, they resemble a team playing 4-2-4, with Iskrenov giving captain Stoichkov support through the centre. Another sign of their attacking intent is the fact that Yordanov, predominantly an advanced midfielder, is the more defensive of the central two, with Georgiev ahead of him. It is the latter who produces the first free-kick of the match when he goes in unfairly on left-back Koutoulas deep inside the Greek half after he had felt that Iskrenov should have been awarded a free-kick when challenged by the visitors’ midfield man Stamatis. Shortly after, it is the promising Kostadinov who tries to inject a bit of pace, but he is brought down after a sliding tackle by Papaiouannou, who on three minutes is rewarded with a yellow card. Referee Blattmann wishes to set an example.
Whilst the home side have a wish to keep the game flowing and to do so at pace, the visitors clearly try to slow the match down. They take their time when conducting any type of set-piece, and goalkeeper Plitsis makes sure to kill a few extra seconds every time he is in possession of the ball. Despite their recent 1-1 in Hungary, it does appear that the Greeks are unsure about themselves and about whether they can actually pose a threat to Bulgaria. They sit deep and try to reach their captain, Saravakos, through direct passing when reluctantly breaking. Tsiantakis to the right of the visitors’ midfield seems to be the player they wish to feed the ball to. He had slowly grown in stature since his first qualifying experience during the 3-0 defeat in Romania, and by now the Olympiakos man was trusted with playmaking responsibilities. Tsiantakis is a technically gifted player, but he is fairly one-paced and one-footed, and perhaps it did seem slightly odd that Mr Georgiadis had picked a left-footed player for the right-sided role. Yet he has skill to hold on to the ball and weight a pass in behind the Bulgarian defence. Of the two visiting forwards, Saravakos seems the more industrious and keen to make runs off the ball. His forward partner Dimitriadis wants to receive balls to his feet.
There is quite a bit of action inside the visitors’ penalty area within the opening minutes: Stoichkov hits a 30 yard free-kick over, whilst the same player goes down inside the Greek area after a challenge by Tsiantakis following Georgiev’s neat through ball. The home captain’s tumble had given him away; he had wanted a penalty more than he had wanted to finish. Mr Blattmann would have none of it. Then Ivanov hits a free-kick from 30 yards into the box where Stoichkov has escaped the attention of the Greek defence, but the captain stoops to head just wide as the ball had come to him with too much pace; he had been unable to guide it where he wanted it. The signs were clear, though: Bulgaria were very much in the ascendancy.
The Bulgarian pressure towards Plitsis’ goal will gradually wither, but Stoichkov does appreciate the wet conditions and decides to test the Greek goalkeeper from distance twice: on the first occasion Plitsis parries it away, though only into the path of Iskrenov, who is unable to pursue the threat, whilst Stoichkov’s second strike is a firmer one, and the ‘keeper has to fist it away for a left hand corner. Greece have inside the opening 20 minutes only been threatening Valov’s goal once, and that was when Saravakos had swung a left-sided free-kick into the centre where Mavridis had got up above Balakov to head wide whilst in a decent position. It certainly was a lively match, probably contributed to by the conditions. Greece’ vulnerability on the road seemed understandable when one saw with what ease Bulgaria were creating openings.
The match sees its second booking on 21 minutes when Bankov brings Saravakos down as the forward had attempted to run past him down the Greek left hand side. The defender had used both his foot and his arm to stop the visiting captain from making it towards the byline, and though Bankov went over to Saravakos to apologize, there was no way Mr Blattmann would let him off the hook. The yellow card was well deserved.
Bulgaria are unable to keep their momentum going throughout, and they will slow down pace to let Greece into the game. The condition of the pitch is deteriorating as the half wears on, and in some parts there is surface water that sees the ball stop. Despite left-back Tinchev being issued with the third warning of the match for bringing down the advancing Khatziathanasiou a few yards inside the visitors’ half, the game is at this point not ugly. Some tackles are late due to the state of the pitch, but Mr Blattmann appears to be in control of proceedings. Saravakos has a low effort towards the near post saved low down by Valov. At the other end Greece have finally begun to deny the home side access to their penalty area, and Bulgaria are struggling to create openings like they did inside the first 20 minutes. There is not a lot to be seen from Kostadinov, and Iskrenov is also not in the game nearly as much as Stoichkov, who is proving to be the thorn in Greece’ side. In midfield, Papaiouannou and Stamatis are battling well with Yordanov and Georgiev, and though Kofidis remains a peripheral figure on the left hand side of midfield, the away team are still trying to let Tsiantakis do the orchestrating. He does it reasonably well, and the lively Saravakos is often the recipient of his passes. As Balakov’s strength is hardly his defensive work, it means Tsiantakis can often escape attention. This might be part of the reason why Georgiadis has placed the Olympiakos man on the right.
In the final 15 minutes of the opening half, the game continues to see niggly fouls, and both sets of players become more moody as some tackles come flying in. There is little fluency from either side, just like Greece will have wanted. The visitors have clearly enjoyed more possession after they have managed to slow the game down, also helped by the soggy pitch which is cutting up. On 38 minutes Vakalopoulos goes in hard on Stoichkov inside the D just outside of the visitors’ penalty area, and the home captain lines up to strike the subsequent free-kick. However, it is Yordanov who sees an opening in the Greek wall, and he proceeds to steal the kick and fire it off one of the visiting players and into the net behind Plitsis. The home side believe for only half a second that they have gone ahead, until Mr Blattmann blows his whistle furiously to point out that he had yet not signalled his consent for the kick to be taken. Stoichkov strikes the retaken free-kick straight into the wall.
The final few minutes are fairly uneventful, with the exception of a third Bulgarian booking when Iskrenov fells Khatziathanasiou from behind in about the same spot as the visiting right-back had been brought down by Tinchev for the previous yellow. Bulgaria had started so well but faded. Players like Georgiev and Kostadinov had been unable to stamp any kind of authority on the match, and the home side would need to get back to the same level of performance which they had shown during the opening 20 minutes in order to gain that elusive first win of 1989. Greece would be happy to see the game out like they had managed to halt Bulgaria’s progress in the latter part of the half.
Second half:
After a somewhat fiery final third to the opening period, it was interesting to see what the second half would have in store. Neither manager had made any changes during the break, and the game would recommence through Bulgarian forwards Stoichkov and Iskrenov.
The first few exchanges of the second half did not differ a lot different from what the final 20 minutes of the opening half had served: sedate pace on a drenched pitch. The rain had seemed to subside, although there were still some umbrellas to be seen here and there. The wind seemed to play in the visitors’ favour. There were still a few niggles, though. Georgiev, the home midfielder who had been rather invisible during the opening 45, had brought Koutoulas down off the ball way inside the Bulgarian half, leaving the Greek left-back in need of some attention. However, the incident had not brought about a free-kick, as the Swiss referee had not detected it as it had happened. And if he had, he would probably have struggled to decide whether it was a proper foul or play-acting on Koutoulas’ part. It did seem as though Greece were trying to put into practice as much as they could in order to keep the tempo down. Bulgaria would have a struggle on their hands in avoiding frustration. Yet Stoichkov’s body language did give the impression of a frustrated man as he was flagged offside when he was not. It had been Kostadinov a few yards further to the right who had crept in behind the Greek backline too early.
51 minutes: Georgiev is awarded a free-kick just inside the Greek half after a tussle with Papaiouannou. As the midfielder goes to collect the ball to get on with the kick, Dimitriadis just gives the ball a little flick with his right boot, something which upsets Georgiev, who decides to try and kick the Greek forward’s foot. He does connect, but the reaction from the visitors’ number 9 is out of proportions as he goes to the ground spectacularly, claiming injury. It had been a stupid thing by Georgiev to do, especially with the referee in close attention. Perhaps should he only have given the home side’s midfielder a booking, but he pulls out the red card, something which sees a few of the home players flock around the man in charge. A few Greece players join in too, and there’s obviously a few words of less pleasantries being exchanged, and visiting centre back Vakalopoulos decides to try and kick Bulgaria’s Ivanov, who quickly retreats to the back of the group of players in white and green. The central defender does not connect with Ivanov, and he tries to escape attention from the man in black by retreating away from the scene. However, Mr Blattmann has spotted Vakalopoulos’ attempt to hit Ivanov, and despite the all-blue number 4’s best face of innocence, the Swiss referee is in no mood to listen to any pleas. Vakalopoulos has to follow Georgiev off the pitch, meaning that the game will continue ten v ten.
Perhaps the scenes of ill discipline should not have come as a surprise. Greece had been a rugged side throughout the qualification so far, and they were probably aware that their only chance to get something from Varna was through physical play and intimidation. As the game continued with nine outfield players in each side, it did seem that the visitors would suffer the most: Georgiev had not properly got into his stride in the centre of the pitch, so Bulgaria would cope alright with losing him. For the visitors to have central defender Vakalopoulos sent off, it meant a reshuffle as holding midfielder Papaiouannou, who had possibly been one of their more instrumental players in denying Bulgaria space and opportunities to keep the match flowing, was moved back alongside libero Mavridis. Rather than pulling either of their two forwards, Dimitriadis and Saravakos, back into midfield, it did appear as they were playing on with three men across the middle, with Tsiantakis and Kofidis less wide than before, lending the central Stamatis their support. However, the centre of the pitch was badly cut by now, and both teams did try and avoid these areas. Bulgaria were probably not getting Balakov to the left and Kostadinov down the right hand side in the game as much as they would have wanted, and the latter is being told he’s coming off to be replaced by Lyubo Penev on 58 minutes. However, the linesman checking on Penev’s boots does not allow the Valencia striker onto the pitch, so the substitution has to be put on hold for Penev to change his footwear.
On 59 minutes Ivanov becomes the fourth Bulgarian player to be booked: Greek left-back Koutoulas, who’s already made a couple of inroads into the hosts’ half of the pitch since the break, trots forward and seems to go by Ivanov only to be brought down through a slight connection. Koutoulas goes to the ground quite heavily, and Blattmann proceeds to show the home libero the yellow card. Ivanov, as you would expect, is claiming his innocence by telling the referee that Koutoulas had taken a dive. Truth be told, it was difficult to say whether there had been enough of an infringement for the referee to bring his card out again. Yes, some of the players were clearly frustrated and in rather foul mood, yet it had not been an overly physical nor ugly game despite the two reds and the total of five yellow cards at this point. From the free-kick after Ivanov’s foul, Saravakos has a cheeky attempt to score from all of 30 yards as he fires a low shot rather than put the ball into the centre for someone to challenge. Valov is more than alert and collects cleanly at the near post.
There is still not a lot happening in front of either goal. Kostadinov, who is still on the pitch, makes sure the referee takes another name as Khatziathanasiou scythes him down out by the left hand touchline some 30 yards away from Plitsis’ goal frame. At this rate, one could be forgiven for thinking that a player or two will have to walk for accumulating two yellows. Six minutes after the switch between Kostadinov and Penev had originally been attempted, the Bulgarian manager can complete his first substitution. Kostadinov, a player of so much promise, had only been able to play a bit-part in the heavy conditions. Yet one wondered whether a player of such physical nature as the big Spain based striker would succeed on such a heavy pitch.
Around the time of Penev’s introduction, Bulgaria are awarded two free-kicks in quick succession just outside of the Greek penalty area. Yordanov, who had struck goal only for it to be wiped out towards the end of the first half, would have felt that he had a cause in wanting to strike, but he was clearly subordinate to Stoichkov, whose both efforts were hit against the Greek wall. In bringing Penev on, Mr Vutsov kept going with his three forwards, and although Iskrenov and Penev were originally left and right of Stoichkov respectively, they would continue their positional interchanges to try and cause stir in the Greek defence. Mavridis was marshalling his troops well, and Bulgaria were still unable to create the necessary openings.
At last there’s a proper nasty challenge when Dimitriadis slides into goalkeeper Valov feet first. He goes in quite heavy after Ivanov’s back pass has been hit with not a lot of pace, though this time the referee does not produce a yellow card. Valov, who has often in the past year been substituted, a rather rare occurence for a ‘keeper, or been in need of treatment on the pitch, is left in some agony, but after a bit of aid from the magic sponge he will continue the match. It had seemed unnecessary of Dimitriadis to make such a challenge for the ball, though he would claim that the surface had played its part too.
Penev seems lively after coming on, and he had a good claim for another yellow against Greek defender Koutoulas after being brought down to the right of the penalty area. The resulting free-kick resulted in nothing. Down the other end, Saravakos is alert to play Dimitriadis in with an intelligent pass into the box from the left, but the striker can not connect and the home defence can ease their breathing after a lapse in concentration as no one had followed Saravakos’ run down the left nor paid close enough attention to Dimitriadis in the centre. In a topsy-turvy couple of minutes, it is Penev who yet again causes some havoc in the Greek defence as he tries to advance past Papaiouannou to the right of the visiting penalty area. The defender gets a good tackle in and the ball breaks for Mavridis, who tries to play it back to his ‘keeper. However, he had not spotted Stoichkov coming in behind his back to cut off the route, and the home side are almost gifted a goal before Mavridis can make a desperate clearance to get the ball away for a right wing corner. Just prior to all of this, Stamatis, who had put in a lot of running in the centre of the pitch, had been replaced by international debutant Daniil Papadopoulos, a 26 year old of Iraklis.
71 minutes: It is unclear exactly how it happens, but Bulgarian defender Ivanov gets his first international goal following that right wing corner. The TV pictures show a slow-motion replay of Mavridis’ clearance, and all of a sudden there’s a big shout from the home crowd, and Ivanov appears triumphantly on the far post with the goal in the back of the net. The home side have the lead, despite not having properly threatened Plitsis’ goal so far in the half. They will not have cared how it happened; they will have been pleased just to go a goal in front. Would the introduction of Papadopoulos to the Greek midfield mean a change in their set-up? Could they counter the home side’s opening goal? There were a few questions beginning to loom.
You would expect your captain to try and lead by example, but almost immediately after falling behind, legendary Panathinaikos forward Saravakos sees red for a rash challenge on Balakov by the touchline. It is a bad tackle, and considering Mr Blattmann’s eagerness to wave his cards, it was definitely one which Saravakos could have done without. It did contain a lot of frustration, and going a goal down will only have increased the Greek number 7’s feeling of discouragement. Greece had to continue nine against ten for the remaining odd 20 minutes, leaving Dimitriadis up front on his own. A quick comeback inevitably seemed less likely. Dimitriadis collects the captain’s armband from the sidelines, and he does appear to put it on, though it is hard to say for sure. One would have thought Mavridis to naturally succeed Saravakos as captain.
Two minutes after the sending off of Saravakos there’s another goal to celebrate for the home side: Bankov strikes it well from 25 yards out, and on the slippery surface Plitsis can not get a firm enough hand on it to keep it out. It is 2-0, and the visitors appear to have lost both their captain, their shape and their plot. What next? Bankov, like fellow defender Ivanov, had scored his first goal at international level, and the ball had come to him after Mavridis had only half-heartedly attempted to clear a cross from the left.
When Iskrenov makes it 3-0 on 77 minutes, the game is rapidly becoming a farce for the visitors. To concede three times within the space of six minutes is nothing short of abysmal. Their midfield is almost non-existing, as the introduction of newbie Papadopoulos for the hard-working Stamatis had not paid any dividends. At least not of a positive nature. There’s a great defensive collapse in the visiting team caused by Ivanov’s opening goal which also paved the way for the following two. Tsiantakis is left to defend against Balakov just inside the right hand side of his own penalty area, but he goes to the ground as the Bulgarian left-sided midfielder advances past him, and there is no marking whatsoever in the centre, where Iskrenov is completely free to stop Balakov’s pass and calmly strike it into an empty net with Plitsis lost somewhere between Balakov and the near post. Greece do not even bother about making claims for a free-kick for when the Bulgarian number 9 trod on Tsiantakis’ heel. All they want by now is for the match to end. If they do not get their act together, they could face a landslide in the dying minutes; there’s still plenty of time left for Bulgaria to further enhance their lead.
In the dying stages, there is no flow to the game; there’s little cohesion even from the home team, and the 3-0 lead is possibly flattering them as their superiority since the opening 15-20 minutes had not been great. A lot could be explained through the poor conditions and the awful state of the pitch. For every passage of play, there’s a sliding tackle, and usually a player goes down, so it is up to Mr Blattmann to decide whether the tackle has been legally executed or not. It is an unenviable task. Yet one does feel that the referee could have handled the game differently and probably better. He had been eager to exert his authority during the opening half, and his desire to produce yellow cards for tackles which probably did not warrant much more than a stern talking to will have confused the players. Not that they were without responsibility for the match turning into a farce. Saravakos’ tackle had been the prime example of someone losing the plot. And with eight minutes left on the clock, yet another Greek player has to walk: aggressive full-back Khatziathanasiou, already on a yellow, has most likely said something that the referee did not appreciate. He does not quite seem to understand that he’s been sent off, and so is told repeatedly by the ref to leave the pitch, which he does very reluctantly. If this wasn’t bad enough already from the visitors’ point of view, finishing the match with eight players would echo in disbelief around the continent when reports from the match came out. And with something like ten minutes left to play, it could still get worse.
Greece had stopped playing football with five minutes left. They put Tsiantakis back into defence for Khatziathanasiou, and there were three players just in front of their defence in Dimitriadis, Kofidis and substitute Papadopoulos. Seven outfield players were never going to put the home defence under any kind of threat. Bulgaria had a go from the free-kick that followed after the last sending off, but Yordanov’s effort went just to the left of Plitsis’ upright. Shortly after it was time for Mr Vutsov to take his central midfielder off for Sliven’s Lechkov, who would be making his international debut. He will only have time for a couple of touches, but he is described by the Bulgarian commentator as a “technically gifted player”.
4-0: Penev plays Stoichkov through for an emphatic low right-footed finish to the right of Plitsis with only a couple of minutes to go. The Bulgarian captain was probably due a goal for his efforts. Only a minute earlier he had again fired from distance, with the Greek stopper having to dive down low to his left to keep the shot out. Penev’s pass for Stoichkov had been intelligent, and it exposed the unaware Papaiouannou, who was left to deal with the defensive line after Mavridis had strolled forward and out of position moments earlier. The goal capped a solid win for Bulgaria, even if it was by a deceptively big margin. The visitors ought to hang their heads in shame.
45 seconds into injury time, the referee blows his whistle one final time, and the visitors are put out of their misery.
Conclusion:
Bulgaria start the game at pace in difficult conditions, and are able to create a few decent openings and long distance efforts, but the visitors manage to shut them out. On a heavy pitch, there’s a few mis-timed tackles, yet they do not seem to be of malicious intent, but the Swiss official will issue no less than four yellow cards during the opening 45 minutes. The Greek are succeeding in slowing down the pace of the game, and after the initial bursts of energy from the home side they seem to be able to hold their own without too much of a struggle. Early in the second half both teams have a player sent off, and there’s not a lot of goalmouth action until Ivanov scores from a set-piece to open the floodgates. Greece have two further players sent off and concede a further three times before the end of the game. They can not take any pride whatsoever from their performance. Bulgaria win deservedly, even if the margin of victory flatters them.
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