Last Thursday, in Plovdiv, Ireland took a first but significant step towards remaining in League B of the Nations League. Despite things looking bad – Bulgaria took the lead in the 6th minute – the Boys in Green managed to turn the situation around: once they had sized up their opponents, the team led by Icelandic coach Heimir Hallgrimsson showed that extra bit of quality, scoring two goals in 20 minutes, first through Azaz and then Doherty, securing a precious victory ahead of the return leg.
At the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland only need to avoid defeat to be sure of remaining in the second tier of the continental competition: even a draw would allow them to achieve their goal. The win against Bulgaria was only Ireland’s fourth victory in official competition since September 2022. In that time, the Greens had only beaten lowly Gibraltar and, in the group stage of this edition of the Nations League, Finland, whom they defeated in both the first and second legs.
Bulgaria and the goal problem
Hallgrimsson has undoubtedly brought a breath of fresh air after Kenny’s turbulent reign, but it will be important to be ready for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers: the group is not impossible, as they have been drawn with Armenia, Hungary, and either Denmark or Portugal.
Bulgaria’s group is more complicated, as they will face Georgia, Turkey, and the winner of the match between the Netherlands and Spain. To dream of qualifying for the first time since 1998, coach Ilian Iliev will have to solve the goal-scoring problem: since he took charge, Bulgaria has scored only seven times in 13 games.
Odds comparison
Ireland’s victory is priced at 1.65 on Goldbet, Lottomatica, and Snai. The “No Goals” option is priced at 1.75 on Goldbet and Lottomatica and 1.70 on Snai.
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The prediction
The feeling is that Ireland did the hard work last Thursday in Bulgaria. The Boys in Green usually have an extra gear at home and are unlikely to be caught by an opponent who, away from home since 2022, has only beaten Luxembourg. It cannot be ruled out that Collins and his teammates will keep a clean sheet.
Probable line-ups for Ireland v Bulgaria
IRELAND (4-2-3-1): Kelleher; Doherty, Collins, O’Shea, Brady; Cullen, Knight; Johnston, Azaz, Manning; Ferguson.
BULGARIA (4-5-1): P. Iliev; Nedyalkov, Atanasov, A. Petkov, Nurnberger; M. Petkov, Kraev, Gruev, Krastev, Despodov; L. Petkov.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-0