Last Thursday, in Plovdiv, Ireland took a first but significant step towards staying in League B of the Nations League. Although things had gotten bad – Bulgaria took the lead in the 6th minute of play – the Boys in Green managed to turn the situation around: once they had taken the measure of their opponents, the team led by Icelandic coach Heimir Hallgrimsson showed that little bit of extra quality, scoring 2 goals in the space of 20 minutes, first with Azaz and then with Doherty, achieving a very precious win in view of the return leg.
At the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland only need to avoid defeat to be sure of staying in the second division of the continental competition: even a draw would allow them to achieve their goal. The match against Bulgaria was only Ireland’s fourth victory in official competitions since September 2022. In that time, the green team had only beaten the modest Gibraltar and, in the group stage of this edition of the Nations League, Finland, beaten both home and away.
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 isn’t impossible, given that they have been drawn with Armenia, Hungary and one of Denmark or Portugal.
More complicated is the group of Bulgaria, who will have to face Georgia, Turkey and the winner of the match between Holland and Spain. To dream of qualifying, something they haven’t done since 1998, coach Ilian Iliev will have to solve the goal problem: since he took over Bulgaria have scored only 7 times in 13 matches.
Odds comparison
Ireland’s victory is quoted at 1.65 on Goldbet, Lottomatica and Snai. The “No Goal” sign is quoted at 1.75 on Goldbet and Lottomatica and at 1.70 on Snai.
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The prediction
The feeling is that the big boys, Ireland, did it last Thursday in Bulgaria. At home the Boys in Green usually have an edge and it’s unlikely that they’ll be caught by an opponent who, away from home since 2022, has only beaten Luxembourg. It is not to be excluded that Collins and his teammates will keep a clean sheet as well.
The probable line-ups for Ireland-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