Bulgaria

**bwagner** · 25/02/2009, 4:38 PM

The Bulgarian Football Union has postponed the start of its spring matches by a week owing to bad weather, BFU spokesman Borislav Konstantinov has announced.

"The resumption of the season (after the traditional winter break) has been postponed by one week," Konstantinov said.

The decision came after consultation with all 24 clubs that will host first and second league matches during the spring half of the current season, the spokesman said. Only three of the host teams said their grounds would be ready for matches following heavy snowfall over the past week, Konstantinov explained.

Snow and ice had led to "an increased risk of injuries," he said. Nevertheless, the matches would be re-scheduled in such a way to allow the season to end on 14 June as initially planned, he added.

After 15 matches so far this season, Levski Sofia is topping the table with 33 points followed by bitter city rivals CSKA with 32 points.

**bwagner** · 25/02/2009, 4:43 PM

They have about 8- 9 home based players in their squad

**tetsujin1979** · 25/02/2009, 6:53 PM

Bojinov made his comeback for Man City reserves recently, no work on Petrov yet though

**rambler14** · 25/02/2009, 8:37 PM

Apparently were very big in Bulgaria and the other garia.......Hungaria too!

**paul_oshea** · 25/02/2009, 9:16 PM

dont get that rambler?!

**tetsujin1979** · 25/02/2009, 9:50 PM

It's from the Simpsons episode with Spinal Tap

"Goodnight Springden, there will be no encore"

**geysir** · 25/02/2009, 11:12 PM

That makes as much sense as the Bulgarian alphabet.

**mark12345** · 25/02/2009, 11:23 PM

Originally Posted by bwagner

They have about 8- 9 home based players in their squad

Good to hear. It can only help our cause. But I think they'll be the best team we have faced to date. Berbatov is going to take a lot of watching - maybe O'Shea can do a job on him as he knows him best from playing with him at United. I'll be over the moon with a victory, as I'm sure all Irish fans will. Hope we're not hoping for too much though. Midfield needs to be fixed and Finnan should be restored to team.

**Razors left peg** · 25/02/2009, 11:25 PM

Originally Posted by mark12345

Good to hear. It can only help our cause. But I think they'll be the best team we have faced to date. Berbatov is going to take a lot of watching - maybe O'Shea can do a job on him as he knows him best from playing with him at United. I'll be over the moon with a victory, as I'm sure all Irish fans will. Hope we're not hoping for too much though. Midfield needs to be fixed and Finnan should be restored to team.

Finnan needs to be back playing football before that can happen

**Colbert Report** · 25/02/2009, 11:34 PM

I can't see Finnan making the Bulgaria/Italy matches in five/six weeks. He hasn't even been on the bench for Espanyol lately. Must be injured still.

**ifk101** · 26/02/2009, 7:29 AM

If we beat Bulgaria in the next game, I believe that they'll lose heart and pretty much give up on this qualification campaign.

**magnumpi** · 26/02/2009, 3:45 PM

Originally Posted by ifk101

If we beat Bulgaria in the next game, I believe that they'll lose heart and pretty much give up on this qualification campaign.

yeah, it would leave them an awful lot to do, whereas we could draw the rest of our matches and end up with 18 points!! (not saying draws are guaranteed against italy, but still, a nice thought.)

**paul_oshea** · 26/02/2009, 3:52 PM

Originally Posted by magnumpi

yeah, it would leave them an awful lot to do, whereas we could draw the rest of our matches and end up with 18 points!! (not saying draws are guaranteed against italy, but still, a nice thought.)

ya and georgia finish bottom and we have 12 points!!!

**eirebhoy** · 26/02/2009, 5:56 PM

Originally Posted by ifk101

If we beat Bulgaria in the next game, I believe that they'll lose heart and pretty much give up on this qualification campaign.

Doubt it. atm the only thing seperating the 2 teams is their 2 dropped points in Georgia. If they beat us in Bulgaria it would cancel out losing over here and would still mean there's only really 2 points seperating us.

**richieos** · 26/02/2009, 8:11 PM

Originally Posted by paul_oshea

ya and georgia finish bottom and we have 12 points!!!

12 points in the second place table, we'd still have 18 in our group which is all we can think about at the moment, we'll worry about the second place table later

**paul_oshea** · 26/02/2009, 9:12 PM

Originally Posted by eirebhoy

Doubt it. atm the only thing seperating the 2 teams is their 2 dropped points in Georgia. If they beat us in Bulgaria it would cancel out losing over here and would still mean there's only really 2 points seperating us.

exactly EB, not often you're that realistic!!

**Fizzer** · 11/03/2009, 6:06 PM

Tickets now available from ticketmaster lads

**The Fly** · 13/03/2009, 12:27 AM

Does anyone have any idea when the Irish squad will be announced for this match?

**Superhoops** · 13/03/2009, 6:13 AM

Originally Posted by The Fly

Does anyone have any idea when the Irish squad will be announced for this match?

Squad for games against Bulgaria and Italy will be announced at 11am on Monday 16th March in eircom Headquarters, Heuston South Quarter, St. John's Road, Dublin 8