FRANCE 98 – Paraguay-Bulgaria – T. Ivanov: “Paraguay gave us a lot of trouble”
Trifon IVANOV (3), Captain:
“We dominated the first half, but unfortunately we didn’t follow all our chances through. We became very tired in the second half, because of the huge physical effort we put in, and because of this PARAGUAY gave us a lot of trouble. Emil KOSTADINOV (7) came on too late in the game. If he’d come on sooner we might have been able to keep it up. He should be in the starting line-up. We don’t play the same without him.
We’re looking for revenge against NIGERIA (Group D, Friday June 19th, 1998) because they beat us three-nil in the last World Cup.”
“In the first half we played better than PARAGUAY and should have taken the lead early on. But the Paraguayans changed tactics and got back into the match.
In the second half they strengthened their left flank, and that put us off psychologically. On top of that the wind was against us and we slowed down. Now we’ve got to beat NIGERIA (Group D)–an opponent we know well.”
Krassimir BALAKOV (10):
“I got a head injury in the 17th minute following a clash with the defender SARABIA (11). My huge bandage put me off during the first half. Fortunately, it didn’t bother me anymore after the medical treatment I had at half-time. PARAGUAY ‘s excellent defensive organisation didn’t surprise me in the least.
Our lack of organisation in the second half isn’t worthy of a team that finished third in the World Cup in America. This is probably because KOSTADINOV (7) has been out of the team for too long. So, of course, I’m not satisfied with a draw, because we really had to win before playing against the formidable team from NIGERIA.”