Bulgaria can spoil Wales’s evening when the pair meet in a friendly international in Swansea on Tuesday. The match will be shown live on Sky, and with the qualifiers for the 2008 European Championship almost upon us, both sides can be expected to approach the game with at least some degree of intent.
Wales, who begin their European campaign against the Czech Republic in Teplice next month, will expect great things from Craig Bellamy.
Bellamy has had a good pre-season for Liverpool since moving from Blackburn for £6 million, and he was influential in the Reds’ 2-1 defeat of Chelsea in the Community Shield in Cardiff on Sunday.
John Toshack, the Wales manager, also has Ryan Giggs to call upon, and the attack is further boosted by the inclusion of Robert Earnshaw.
However, Bulgaria also have plenty of talent at their disposal. Their coach, Hristo Stoichkov, was an outstanding player and is determined to translate his playing successes to management.
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Followers of British football will be familiar with several of his squad, notably Radostin Kishishev of Charlton, Stilian Petrov (Celtic), Svetoslav Todorov (Portsmouth) and Tottenham’s recent big-money signing, Dimitar Berbatov.
There is always the element of the unknown with Bulgaria, who can be brilliant at their best or just plain infuriating at their worst.
That said, the 2-1 quote from Betfred about them winning offers a touch of value, more so than the 7-5 about Wales with Paddy Power. The draw is best at 9-4 with Stan James.