FRANCE 98 – Match preview n°23

Bulgaria’s Trifon Ivanov, already sporting one yellow card, may have to temper his hard man style to stay out of the referee’s notebook in their match against Nigeria at the Parc des Princes here on Friday.

The rugged Ivanov, who excelled at both USA 94 and Euro 96 where he earned his nicknam of Wolfman, found his place in the national squad in doubt earlier this year.

He will need to be on top form against free-scoring Nigeria, who came back from internal bickering, the shock of the death of their president, General Sani Abacha, and the threat their coach being sacked, to hit three goals past pre-tournament group favourites Spain. Along with Emil Kostadinov and Hristo Stoichkov, also members of the side that reached the semi-finals in 1994 despite a first round loss to Nigeria, Ivanov returned to play in his home country at CSKA Sofia, only to find his promised salary was not being given to him.

Bulgaria coach Hristo Bonev threatened not to pick all three players for the World Cup if they were not playing regularly but relented in the end. Ivanov’s tackling is as fearsome as his rugged appearance but does not lack skill and is often used up front in set pieces in front of goal. However, it’s not only Ivanov who will have to be on his guard. Former European footballer of the year Stoichkov, such an imposing figure at USA 94, also picked up a yellow card from the 0-0 draw against Paraguay.

In a bid to add a more potent threat the Bulgarians are set to inject a more youthful touch to their ageing side in the match which kicks off in the capital city at 1530 GMT. Marian Hristov, the Bundesliga midfielder who helped Kaiserslautern to the title last season, is fit and set to make his World Cup debut. Hristov, back from a lingering leg injury, could replace suspended midfield star Anatoli Nankov, sent off in Friday’s 0-0 draw with Paraguay in Montpellier for a second yellow card after clattering into Juan Carlos Yegros. Also, midfielder Ilian Iliev has recovered from a hamstring twinge and will be fit.

Nigerian captain Uche Okechukwu is on a yellow card following a booking against Spain but the rest of the squad, who had been making clumsy tackles in frustration in warm-up games, managed to avoid cautions. A repeat of their 1994 victory over the Bulgarians will see them qualify for the second phase for the second successive finals-a surprise if their build-up to France 98 is taken into consideration with a series of poor results and internal strife.

But Sunday Oliseh, who at the beginning of the tournament urged his squad members to not let the death of Abacha affect them, said it was the pride of wearing the Nigerian shirt which spelt success. Fernando Hierro scored the first goal for Spain in Nantes on Saturday before Mutiu Adepoju equalized. Raul hit a superb left foot volley home, only for Garba Lawal to equalize following a mistake by Spain’s 36-year-old keeper Andoni Zubizarreta.

National pride had a lot to do with the win, according to Oliseh, the Ajax Amsterdam midfielder who scored Nigeria’s winning goal 12 minutes from fulltime. However, the footballing brains of coach Bora Milutinovic might also have had something to do with it having now coached four different national sides at World Cup finals.

In 1986, Mexico reached the quarter-finals, and in 1990 and 1994 both Costa Rica and the USA made it to the second round respectively. Costa Rica finished second behind Brazil in their group and managed to edge out Scotland and Sweden. The 53-year-old Bora led the Americans through to the second round on the back of home crowd euphoria which filled stadiums in record attendances throughout that event. USA finished ahead of pre-tournament favourites Colombia but went out to eventual winners Brazil.

Milutinovic, who played for Partizan Belgrade, will breathe a huge sigh of relief if Nigeria beat Bulgaria as his job has been on the line following poor results in warm-up games. The Nigerians lost their last three friendly matches before the finals and conceded 12 goals in the process.

But against Spain, they played with some of the exhilarating football more associated with their heroics in Atlanta in 1996 when they went all the way to the gold medal-that will surely be required against Bulgaria.