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Trap eyes Bulgaria as threat

By
CATHAL DERVAN
,
Irish Voice Newspaper Columnist
Published Wednesday, June 3, 2009, 12:53 PM
Updated Thursday, July 23, 2009, 5:44 PM
Read more: Giovanni Trapattoni, Football Association of Ireland, Sofia, Bulgaria


Giovanni Trappatoni

Giovanni Trapattoni has earmarked Bulgaria as the biggest threat to his team’s World Cup hopes ahead of Saturday night’s Group Eight showdown in Sofia.

Trapattoni made the declaration after a Robbie Keane equalizer helped Ireland to a 1-1 draw with Nigeria in London last Friday night.

Anything other than a defeat in Sofia this weekend will all but guarantee Trap’s team a place in the playoffs next November and kill Bulgaria off as World Cup rivals into the bargain.

“This is their last opportunity to qualify and I am sure this will be the most difficult game in this group,” Trapattoni told Star Sunday.

“The three points on offer in Sofia are very important in this World Cup qualifying, for us and for them. In my opinion, Bulgaria are possibly the strongest team in the group.

“They have many, many good players with technical ability and creativity. They have players in England and with the top clubs in Europe and they know this is their last chance.

“The Nigeria friendly was a good chance for me to look at our mentality ahead of Bulgaria because we cannot take anything for granted out there. I was happy with the performance on Friday.”

Irish goalkeeper Shay Given knows exactly the task his team will face in front of a partisan Sofia crowd next Saturday -- his Manchester City colleagues Martin Petrov and Valeri Bojinov keep reminding him about it.

“It’s a massive game for both countries obviously as the two Bulgarian lads at City have been telling me for months now,” said Given.

“They know how big it is for them, but the most important for us is that we get a result, ideally a victory, but it’s a must not lose game either way.

“Martin and Valeri felt all along that if they can bring us to Bulgaria and beat us there they can qualify but we’re confident we can go there and get a result too.

“We’ve just been to Italy and got a result there so the confidence in the camp is good. We could have won the Nigeria game on Friday night as well so we’re playing well and the confidence is pretty high for next week.

“It will be quite humid, quite warm, but hopefully we’ll be fine.”

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Trap eyes Bulgaria as threat | Irish Sport | IrishCentral


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