Guest Tonyvdb Posted October 8, 2002 Share Posted October 8, 2002 being Belgian, this game is important for us too. It is the most difficult game to predict : Odds about 2,20 for a Bulgaria-win, only 3,25 -3,50 for a Croatia-win. Bulgaria won 0-2 in Brussels last month and I happened to be there live, I wish I didn't ... Anyway, Bulgaria is a strong entity, with a good solid defence, a few creative players and Balakov (will he play ?) I don't think they'll lose against a Croatia in a identity-crisis, the successors for their golden generation (Boban, Suker, Prosinecki, ...) are not quite ready yet and only played a poor draw at home against Estonia in their first game ... My bet : probably 1X Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Parahandy Posted October 8, 2002 Share Posted October 8, 2002 Re: Bulgaria - Croatia Tony This looks like being one of the few close matches in the Euro qualifiers this weekend. Bulgaria surprised more than a few people when they won in Brussels. I get the feeling Croatia are not as strong as they were a few years ago and I agree with your 1X view. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Beeblebrox Posted October 9, 2002 Share Posted October 9, 2002 Bulgaria : Croatia Of course that 1x seems real....BUT....u have to keep in mind that Boksic, Tudor and Kovac will be available for this game! Together with other young players that are showing great form lately (Babic - Bayer L., Pletikosa - Hajduk, Olic and Balaban - Dinamo, Rapajic - Altay, Prosinecki - showing great come back in Olimpija Ljubljana...). Another thing - Balakov will not play this game for Bulgaria. If you look it that way, x2 seems more real but I advice you to bet large on Croatia! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tonyvdb Posted October 9, 2002 Share Posted October 9, 2002 Re: Bulgaria - Croatia you have to keep in mind that national coaches only call up players that are playing well at their clubs, so you shouldn't present Croatia like they're some kind of Dream-Team. I'm pretty sure Bulgaria have as good players as Croatia , even without Balakov. I've seen them play against Belgium in Brussels lately and they surprised me. 1X for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tigertough12 Posted October 9, 2002 Share Posted October 9, 2002 Re: Bulgaria - Croatia I agree tony, Croatia will get a spanking. This will be an easy one for Bulgaria. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluelessG Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 Tough one Being Bulgarian I can tell you that the game could go easily either way. There is nothing much to separate the teams at the moment. Well, if Balakov was playing, then Bulgaria was going to be the favourite, definitely. But now I'm just not sure who is going to be our playmaker... and we are expected to take care of playmaking, because Croatia are going to sit back and wait for our defensive mistakes. Moreover, you saw what Croatia did to Italy - they can beat anyone on their day. A few months before the World Cup Bulgaria traveled to Croatia for a friendly - an easy home win was expected, as Bulgaria was in crisis and Croatia was preparing for the Cup. Final score? 0:0 - of course they had nothing to play for ;-) This time they have everything to play for! A few additional comments: It is true that Bulgaria tends to play better away against Western European teams - that's why many people here expected a result against Belgium (well, not a 2:0 win really). Unfortunately, I didn't see the match so I am a bit short of info on the current state of both teams. On the other hand, according to a posting by a Croatian punter here, their footy federation is a mess and the team is not particularly strong. Apart from Balakov, we are probably going to miss Georgi Ivanov - our main striker last year, now he is a bad form in Rennes (rock bottom in France). The match will also be used as an official opening of the new National Stadium - everything sold out already but probably too many fat-ass and quiet businessmen and politicians will be amongst the spectators. Anyway, I expect a great atmosphere (if weather is OK). X1 for me then. And if it is raining (and it probably will) - I'd go for 1:1. I'll try to get you some local info on Saturday if urgent work does not get in the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest istefano Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 re Croatia is good team and my sugestion is stay away from this game ,Croatia is always play good if is not favorit ,for me X2 is good volue but i will stay away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whyc Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 Re: re In my opinion, bulgaria won't score, because tudor and r. kovac are back and all our defensive players are in very good form. They are so good (or attackers are so bad) that tomas played last game (last 15 minutes) in attack. And i'm afraid we won't score either, because we have lousy attack and even worse midfield. Our coach said we are going to bulgaria not ot lose and if we win, ok. I'm going for correct score, 0-0. I just hope tudor won't score because at the moment i don't see anyone else who could score. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Accaman Posted October 11, 2002 Share Posted October 11, 2002 re I can`t see anything but draw and 0-0 looks very good to me. Croatia don`t concede many and they don`t score many either. Draw like a house! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Da Hannanah Posted October 11, 2002 Share Posted October 11, 2002 Spot on! 0-0 for me too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tigertough12 Posted October 11, 2002 Share Posted October 11, 2002 Bulgaria 2-0 Croatia are not the team they used to be. Bulgaria will spank them. The world cup was full of upsets and croatia beating italy was definately that. Croatia couldnt even beat Estonia at home in their opening EURO2004 Qualifier, I rest my case. Bulgaria to win 2-0 even if Balakov doesnt play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Beeblebrox Posted October 11, 2002 Share Posted October 11, 2002 Bulgaria : Croatia I hate when I have to use the "I told you so..." phrase after the game. Croatia will win this match. After the "Begium surprise", Bulgarian team will be fired up, but Croatian magnificent 11 managed by hot brunette Otto Nazionale will put them where they belong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tonyvdb Posted October 11, 2002 Share Posted October 11, 2002 Re: Bulgaria : Croatia yeah right, that's why they drew deliberately at home with mighty Estonia last month to put the Bulgarians on the wrong track, so that they would think they'd win easily against Croatia. Smart !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tigertough12 Posted October 11, 2002 Share Posted October 11, 2002 Re: Bulgaria : Croatia Beeblebrox stop thinking with your heart and start thinking with your head. Bulgaria will spank your croation team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Beeblebrox Posted October 11, 2002 Share Posted October 11, 2002 Bulgaria : Croatia tiger, i'm just being real! Croatia will win this for sure...if not, u r all invited for summer vacations next year at my place (island Brac, middle of Adriatic, chicks, food and drinks included!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Accaman Posted October 12, 2002 Share Posted October 12, 2002 re Will Serbs be welcome? ;) I quite fancy your offer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cobhramblers Posted October 12, 2002 Share Posted October 12, 2002 difficult to predict bulgaria's win away in belgium definitely made people take notice. however belgium are no great shakes and i really think that they have performed way above their abilities in the last few years. belgium have no stars, none of their players are household names, and really are a piss poor side. difficult to know how good bulgaria were or how bad belgium were. croatia can shake a leg when they want to. they didnt look a bad side in the world cup. the draw against estonia will be the kick up the ass they need and they will be welcoming back players for the match in bulgaria. remember croatia have been known to start qualifying campaigns slowly. as for bulgaria, i havent seen them play that much. i saw them last year play denmark at home in a WC qualifier. they didnt look that great and denmark deserved to win. however what effect the win over belgium will have is still unclear. i'm going for a draw but if there is going to be a win here i'm tending towards croatia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tonyvdb Posted October 12, 2002 Share Posted October 12, 2002 Belgium Belgium no good ?? *Belgium is the only team in the world (!) that made to the last 6 consecutive Worldcups, going through qualification-games ! *In Japan, we lost unfortunately in the 1/8 finals (typical for poor teams, to reach 1/8 finals in World Cup) against a poor Brazil. A valid goal by Wilmots was cancelled for still unclear reasons when it was still 0-0. The reason : Brazil HAD to qualify for the 1/8 finals. * no household names : what about Wilmots, E. Mpenza (Schalke), Goor (Hertha), Buffel (Feyenoord), Sonck, Simons, Soetaers, Valgaeren, Basseggio, Mbo Mpenza, Peter Vanhoudt, ... and a lot of other good players ... That's our strength, we have no Ronaldo, Raul, Owen, Zidane or Van Nistelrooij, but we compensate by our team-spirit and hard working. Come on, do some research before you come up with your nonsense. I saw the Belgium-Bulgaria-game, they were bad, true, but isn't every team allowed to have an off-day now and then ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luso Posted October 12, 2002 Share Posted October 12, 2002 Bul who Despite that Belgium result Bulgaria don't convince me what so ever that they are good enough to beat Croatia. We are talking about the same Croatia that beat Italy in the World Cup, no? So what about about the Estonia result, If you have 11 men behind the ball any team can get a 0-0 these days. I can see Croatia going to Estonia and winning 4-0 now. Croatia like being underdogs, and after their opening result I can't see them losing to Bulgaria. In pop you have 'one-hit wonders'. For me Bulgaria's win over Belgium was a 'one-hit wonder'. I expect Bulgaria to finish 3rd in this group despite that opening day shock win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whyc Posted October 12, 2002 Share Posted October 12, 2002 Re: Bulgaria 2-0 Tiger, can you remember when was the last time we conceded 2 goals in 1 game? And more important, when was the last time we lost with more than 1 goal difference in official games? I can't! Actually, i can! It was Sep 5th, 1998 against Ireland away, 2-0 (that was 2 months after the World Cup in France where we lost only 2 games, 1-0 against Argentina and 2-1 against France). And last time we conceded 2 goals in official game was Oct 9th, 1999 against Yugoslavia at home, 2-2. I don't say we won't lose with 2-0 or even more but if we do lose, it will be a really really big surprise. It's football, you know, everything is possible! And you should stop thinking with your heart, too (together with Beeblebrox). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tigertough12 Posted October 12, 2002 Share Posted October 12, 2002 Re: Bulgaria 2-0 ok, you will definately loose by 1-0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cunniman Posted October 13, 2002 Share Posted October 13, 2002 Re: Bulgaria 2-0 Well done to Bulgaria again. Once again Petrov gets on the scoresheet too. As I said after the Belgium game, I reckon he is the unsung hero at Celtic Park. He is a real attacking force from the midfield. Watch him against Blackburn ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tigertough12 Posted October 14, 2002 Share Posted October 14, 2002 Re: Bulgaria 2-0 I always think with my head WHYC Easy money Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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