Michael O’Neill is looking to build on his side’s solid start to their latest UEFA Nations League campaign when they face Bulgaria later today.
The Northern Ireland senior men’s team manager wants more of the same from his players in the second instalment of their September double header in UNL League C Group 3.
He revealed the comfortable 2-0 win over Luxembourg in Belfast on Thursday had energised the team ahead of the game with the Bulgarians at Stadion Hristo Botev in Plovdiv (17.00 BST start).
As Northern Ireland were defeating Luxembourg thanks to goals from Paddy McNair and Daniel Ballard, Bulgaria were drawing 0-0 with Belarus in their first C3 match, which was played in Hungary on Thursday.
Northern Ireland top the group at this early stage and O’Neill admitted he would like to cement that position ahead of another double header next month when they will take on Belarus away and Bulgaria at home.
Bulgaria’s only win in their last 16 games came against Tanzania and they finished bottom of their Euro 2024 qualifying group. They competed in Group G, which was won by Hungary, while Serbia finished as runners-up. They amassed four points thanks to draws home and away against Lithuania as well as home draws with Hungary and Serbia.
Despite that poor showing O’Neill is expecting a tough night in sweltering conditions in Plovdiv.
"We've made a lot of progress in the last 10 months but the real test of that will be nights like this against a difficult opponent away from home," he told the media yesterday.
"These are games that ideally you want to take something from if you want to be a team that can qualify for a major tournament."
O’Neill has a very youthful squad at his disposal for the game in Plovdiv, while the Bulgarians have players with little international experience rather than a raft of young players.
They are particularly inexperienced in the goalkeeping department. Aberdeen keeper Dimitar Mitov got the nod against Belarus, however it was only his fourth appearance for the seniors.
And the two other goalkeepers in the squad, Ivan Dyulgerov (CSKA Sofia) and Svetoslav Vutsov (Slavia Sofia), have only six caps apiece.
The most experienced operator in their panel is captain and striker Kiril Despodov, who plays his club football in Greece with PAOK. Despodov has scored 14 goals in 50 appearances for his country.
Valentin Antov, a defender with Italian Serie B side Cremonese, is the only other player who has won more than 20 caps. He has made 28 appearances for his country to date.
Leading the line against Belarus was 31-year-old forward Aleksandar Kolev (Levski Sofia). It was only his seventh senior cap.
The Bulgarians will be without midfielder Filip Krastev for the game after he was sent off during last week’s draw in Zalaegerszeg.
Bulgaria created 17 chances in the game against Belarus, compared to eight attempts for Belarus, and O’Neill is expecting them to take the game to the visitors as he tries to engineer what would only be Northern Ireland's third victory in 18 Nations League games; this is the boys in green and white’s fourth campaign in the competition.
Training in Plovdiv
