Bulgaria

22 June :: Italy - Bulgaria 2-1
Regardless of beating Bulgaria 2-1, Italy failed to advance past the group stage of Euro 2004.The Bulgarians started strong, opening the score from a penalty by Martin Petrov late in the first half.Italy responded by aggressively pressuring and managed to equalize early in the second half.Italy took control of the game missing a number of opportunities and pulling off another goal, practically at the end of the match.But this did not help them get through the next stage as Denmark and Sweden finished on top thanks to their favorable goal difference.

18 June :: Bulgaria - Denmark 0-2
Denmark deservedly defeated Bulgaria 2-0 who played one of the worst games ever witnessed at the Euro Championship.Denmark dominated play and mounted wave after wave of attacks mostly through wing play.After a number of misses by Laursen and Gronkjaer, Tomasson finally struck home in the 44th minute from a notebook combination.After the goal, the Bulgarian team did nothing to recover and continued the horror show of not being able to string two passes together.The Danish maintained their raids on the Bulgarian goal but it wasn't until 3 minutes of overtime that Gronkjaer sealed the final 2-0.

14 June :: Bulgaria - Sweden 0-5
Bulgaria suffered a humiliating 5-0 loss to Sweden last Monday.The match started off evenly and the Bulgarians eventually assumed control of the ball.Sweden pulled back relying on fast counter attacks.After one turnover, the disorganized Bulgarian defense paid for its lack of cohesion in the 37th minute.Bulgaria fought back by dominating the possession but were reluctant to capitalize or do anything dangerous with it.By the second half, Sweden's persistent counters became too much for the Bulgarian defense that slipped two quick consecutive goals.This disheartened the Bulgarian squad causing an outpour of goals for Sweden.

Overview
Bulgaria has qualified for Euro 2004 thanks to a string of strong qualifiers.The success of the country relies on the shoulders of young and relatively unknown players.Will this fresh squad match up to Bulgaria's golden generation of 1994?

Bulgaria Squad - Final Selection

	Player	Club	Born	Position
1.	Zdravko Zdravkov	Litex Lovech	04.10.1970	GK
2.	Vladimir Ivanov	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	-	DF
3.	Rosen Kirilov	Litex Lovech	04.01.1973	DF
4.	Ivaylo Petkov	Fenerbahce	24.03.1976	DF
5.	Zlatomir Zagorcic	Litex Lovech	15.06.1971	DF
6.	Kiril Kotev	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	-	DF
7.	Daniel Borimirov	Levski Sofia	15.01.1970	AT
8.	Milen Petkov	AEK Athens	12.01.1974	MF
9.	Dimitar Berbatov	Bayer Leverkusen	30.01.1981	AT
10.	Velizar Dimitrov	CSKA Sofia	13.04.1979	MF
11.	Zdravko Lazarov	Gaziantepspor	-	MF
12.	Stoyan Kolev	CSKA Sofia	03.02.1976	GK
13.	Georgi Peev	Dynamo Kiev	11.03.1979	MF
14.	Georgi Chilikov	Levski Sofia	23.08.1978	AT
15.	Marian Hristov	Kaiserslautern	29.07.1973	MF
16.	Vladimir Manchev	Lille	06.10.1977	AT
17.	Martin Petrov	Wolfsburg	15.01.1979	MF
18.	Predrag Pazin	Shakhter Donetsk	14.03.1973	DF
19.	Stilyan Petrov cap	Celtic	05.07.1979	MF
20.	Valeri Bozhinov	Lecce	-	AT
21.	Zoran Yankovic	Litex Lovech	-	MF
22.	Iliyan Stoyanov	Levski Sofia	20.01.1977	DF
23.	Dimitar Ivankov	Levski Sofia	30.10.1975	GK
Coach: Plamen Markov

Bulgaria Fixtures
All kick-offs are in local Portuguese time (GMT 0)

Monday, 14th June 19.45
Bulgaria vs Sweden (Group C)
at Lisbon

Friday, 18th June 17.00
Bulgaria vs Denmark (Group C)
at Braga

Tuesday, 22th June 19.45
Bulgaria vs Italy (Group C)
at Guimarães