England |
4 - 0
This match has ended. Upcoming related matches:
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Bulgaria |
England vs Bulgaria Live Streams and TV Channels
| Country | Channels |
|---|---|
| International | UEFA.com |
| United States | FOX Deportes, Fox Soccer Channel |
| Other Countries | |
| Australia | Setanta Sports Australia |
| Brazil | ESPN HD Brasil |
| Costa Rica | ESPN DOS |
| Dominican Republic | ESPN DOS |
| El Salvador | ESPN DOS |
| Guatemala | ESPN DOS |
| Honduras | ESPN DOS |
| Ireland | Setanta Sports Ireland |
| Italy | Sky Calcio 1 |
| Mexico | ESPN DOS |
| Panama | ESPN DOS |
| Portugal | Sport TV1 |
| Spain | GOL Television |
| United Kingdom | ITV HD, ITV 1 |
| Venezuela | ESPN DOS |
| *Don't see your country or favourite channel listed? Let us know and we will include it. | |
England vs Bulgaria Delayed and Repeat Broadcasts
| Country | Date/Time (US/Eastern) | Channel |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Fri, Sep 03 23:00pm | Fox Soccer Channel |
| Sat, Sep 04 9:00am | FOX Deportes | |
| Sat, Sep 04 16:00pm | Fox Soccer Channel | |
| Sun, Sep 05 18:00pm | FOX Deportes | |
| Mon, Sep 06 13:00pm | FOX Deportes | |
| Tue, Sep 07 9:00am | FOX Deportes | |
| Tue, Sep 07 14:00pm | Fox Soccer Channel | |
| Argentina | Sat, Sep 04 1:30am | ESPN Latin America South |
| Mon, Sep 06 8:00am | ESPN Latin America South | |
| Australia | Fri, Sep 03 22:30pm | Setanta Sports Australia |
| Sat, Sep 04 5:15am | Setanta Sports Australia | |
| Sun, Sep 05 3:15am | Setanta Sports Australia | |
| Tue, Sep 07 13:00pm | Setanta Sports Australia | |
| Sat, Sep 04 1:00am | ESPN Caribbean | |
| Bolivia | Sat, Sep 04 1:30am | ESPN Latin America Andina |
| Mon, Sep 06 8:00am | ESPN Latin America Andina | |
| Brazil | Sun, Sep 05 9:00am | ESPN Brasil |
| Tue, Sep 07 1:30am | ESPN Brasil | |
| British Virgin Islands | Sat, Sep 04 1:00am | ESPN Caribbean |
| Canada | Sun, Sep 05 19:00pm | Sportsnet World |
| Mon, Sep 06 18:30pm | Sportsnet World | |
| Caribbean | Sat, Sep 04 1:00am | ESPN Caribbean |
| Chile | Sat, Sep 04 1:30am | ESPN Latin America Andina |
| Mon, Sep 06 8:00am | ESPN Latin America Andina | |
| Costa Rica | Sat, Sep 04 15:00pm | ESPN DOS |
| Ecuador | Sat, Sep 04 1:30am | ESPN Latin America North |
| Mon, Sep 06 8:00am | ESPN Latin America North | |
| El Salvador | Sat, Sep 04 15:00pm | ESPN DOS |
| Honduras | Sat, Sep 04 15:00pm | ESPN DOS |
| Italy | Thu, Sep 09 12:30pm | Sky Calcio 1 |
| Jamaica | Sat, Sep 04 1:00am | ESPN Caribbean |
| Mexico | Sat, Sep 04 15:00pm | ESPN DOS |
| Trinidad and Tobago | Sat, Sep 04 1:00am | ESPN Caribbean |
| Uruguay | Sat, Sep 04 1:30am | ESPN Latin America South |
| Mon, Sep 06 8:00am | ESPN Latin America South | |
| Venezuela | Sat, Sep 04 1:30am | ESPN Venezuela |
| Sat, Sep 04 15:00pm | ESPN DOS | |
| Mon, Sep 06 8:00am | ESPN Venezuela | |
| *Don't see your country or favourite channel listed? Let us know and we will include it. | ||
England vs Bulgaria Match Preview
Fabio Capello’s England side will be hoping to get their Euro 2012 campaign off to a good start against Bulgaria at Wembley Stadium, London this Friday. After a disastrous World Cup campaign in South Africa by Capello’s men there have been a few changes for the England squad.
Capello has named a number of relatively new faces to the side and recalled a couple of players that have been out of the fold since before the last World Cup. Kieran Gibbs of Arsenal, Adam Johnson of Manchester City have made brief cameos for the England team, and Gary Cahill of Bolton Wanderers all get call ups for the two game series against Bulgaria and Switzerland. Birmingham City’s new keeper, Ben Foster returns to the England squad after a two year absence along with Jolean Lescott who was in Capello’s provisional 30 man squad for the World Cup but did not make the flight to South Africa.
England’s players and management team came in for a huge amount of criticism after the World Cup with some of the nations top stars bearing the brunt of the accusations about their performances. Indeed, some of the World Cup squad were axed for the recent friendly against Hungary at Wembley Stadium, such as Matthew Upson who was blamed for one of Germany’s goals in the heavy four-one loss to knock England out of the tournament.
However, Capello stuck with the spine of the unsuccessful World Cup side with John Terry, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, Ashley Cole and Gareth Barry all making the starting line up. Unfortunately, the Three Lions struggled to win again, in a dire game that saw the Three Lions win two-one with both goals from England’s captain Steven Gerrard.
After the abject display against Hungary it was fitting that Capello would ring in the changes. It was many of the new boys that shone in the display against Hungary such as Adam Johnson and Michael Dawson who acquitted themselves well against the Magyars.
For Capello, the injuries to Terry, Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and Peter Crouch means that he can change things around and not upset his star name’s egos.
Bulgaria have not qualified for a major tournament since Euro 2004 where they qualified top of their group that contained both Croatia and Belgium. But in Portugal for the Euro 2004 tournament, they finished the group stage with zero points and massive nine goals in the against column. The Tricolors, ranked 43rd in the FIFA World Rankings, are 36 places behind England in 7th place.
Stanimir Stoilov, the Bulgarian coach, will be hoping that his relatively experienced squad can keep their shape and nullify the England attacking threat and counter on the break. The two Petrov’s (Martin and Sylvan) who ply their trade in the Premier League and Valeri Bojinov of Parma will be key to the Tricolors attacking options.
The versatile defender Veselin Minev will be invaluable to the Bulgarian team as will Ivan Ivanov who plays his football in Russia. The Levski Sofia defender Minev is one of the new generation of Bulgarian players who will be hoping to move the Tricolor up the FIFA rankings and qualify for the 2012 Euros in Poland and Ukraine.
England Squad
Goalkeepers: Scott Carson (West Brom), Ben Foster (Birmingham), Joe Hart (Manchester City).
Defenders: Gary Cahill (Bolton), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Michael Dawson (Tottenham), Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Joleon Lescott (Manchester City), Matthew Upson (West Ham)
Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Adam Johnson (Manchester City), James Milner (Manchester City), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Ashley Young (Aston Villa)
Forwards: Darren Bent (Sunderland), Carlton Cole (West Ham), Peter Crouch (Tottenham), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).
Bulgaria Squad
Goalkeepers: Vladislav Stoyanov (Sheriff), Nikolay Mihaylov (FC Twente).
Defenders: Zahari Sirako (Amkar Perm), Ilian Stoyanov (Sanfrecce Hiroshim), Veselin Minev (Levski Sofia), Stanislav Manol (PSV Eindhoven), Ivan Ivanov (Alania Vladikavkaz), Zhivko Milano (Vaslui).
Midfielders: Stanislav Angelov (Steaua Bucureşti), Stanislav Genchev (Vaslui), Chavdar Yankov (Rostov), Georgi Peev (Amkar Perm), Martin Petrov, (Bolton Wanderers), Nikolay Dimitrov (Kasımpaşa), Stiliyan Petrov (c) (Aston Villa).
Forwards: Martin Kamburov (Dalian Shide), Valeri Bojinov (Parma), Dimitar Rangelov (Borussia Dortmund), Valeri Domovchiyski (Hertha Berlin), Iliyan Mitsanski (Kaiserslautern), Ivelin Popov (Gaziantepspor).
England vs Bulgaria Match Report
The England side were never expected to lose this one and over the full 90+4 minutes they were easily the better side, as the scoreline demonstrated. Winning four-nil at any level is a walk in the park. But England didn’t look like they were all-conquering - not until the second Defoe goal just after the hour.Fabio Capello, the England supremo, will be happy to have won by such a comprehensive margin in front of a good sized crowd at the home of English football. After this summer’s World Cup Finals, the Italian manager has been under intense scrutiny because of the nation’s poor performance. This win will help solidify his position as the right man for the job in the microscope that is the English tabloid press.
It didn’t take the Three Lions long to get on the score sheet with Jemain Defoe scoring on three minutes with a half volley from five yards out. This was after a beautifully flighted pass by Wayne Rooney to Ashley Cole. This allowed Cole to have a fantastic attempt on goal, both putting the Bulgarian keeper Nicholay Mihailov under pressure on the near post, as well as getting the ball across the keeper to Defoe.
For the next hour, the England side had the majority of the possession but didn’t look like scoring. The Bulgarians, despite their lack of quality in the final third, did put the young England keeper Joe Hart under pressure on a number of occasions, but he kept his side in the game with some great goalkeeping.
England’s second goal came directly from a fine piece of Hart goalkeeping, as he deftly parried the ball out for Gareth Barry to latch onto it and pass to Rooney who saw Defoe running in to space on the edge of the Bulgarian penalty area. With only one touch before, the diminutive Tottenham Hotspur striker threaded the ball through Mihailov’s legs to double the Three Lions lead on 61 minutes.
The withdrawal of Arsenal’s Theo Walcott on 74 minutes was the catalyst to lead the England charge. Walcott had worked tirelessly for almost an hour on both flanks but was flagging. Capello saw that a change was needed and introduced Manchester City’s Adam Johnson.
Almost instantaneously, the young winger was played on by Steven Gerrard. The England skipper passed the ball right into path of Johnson on the right hand side of the Bulgarian box. With only a little space, he hit a sweet curler at the top left hand corner that just went wide. The England bench were holding their heads in their hands at Johnson’s wasted chance, but only three minutes later in almost the same angle but in a tighter position, the skilled winger found space but chose to try the bottom right corner and scored with Mihailov getting his foot to the ball as he moved the wrong way.
The game was totally finished off as Defoe scored his deserved hat trick. In an almost carbon copy of his second, the Spurs striker scored in the top right corner from the left of the penalty area as the Bulgarian keeper went down early to protect the area between his legs that Defoe had exploited for his second goal, but the hat trick hero received a knock on the ankle by the Bulgarian Ivan Ivanov for his troubles.
The game wasn’t without it’s lows for the England side. Michael Dawson, the Spurs center back who had traveled to the World Cup as a late addition after Rio Ferdinand had withdrawn through injury, was getting a rare start with John Terry absence along side Phil Jagielka of Everton. The new center back pairing were looking comfortable and fairly composed but on the slick pitch, the big defender went down with pressure from behind seriously twisting his knee in the process. The injury was so severe that that Dawson needed to be carried off the field on a stretcher.
The England team as a whole played well, as did the substitutes. Gary Cahill, the debutante, performed extremely well and looked very comfortable on the ball after his introduction. Johnson was superb and threatening whenever he got the ball.
However, the Bulgarian opposition weren’t the stiffest challenge for Capello’s men. The aging Bulgarians looked shell shocked after the second goal and devoid of invention in the final third. They were out muscled all over the pitch but for long periods they were well organised and despite the first goal didn’t look like conceding again.
After the early goal they were on the back foot and their inspirational players were kept quiet by a superior side. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the stamina to keep the attacking threat of the England side at bay.
England: Hart, Glen Johnson, Jagielka, Dawson (Cahill 56), Ashley Cole, Walcott (Adam Johnson 74), Gerrard, Barry, Milner, Defoe (Young 87), Rooney.
Subs Not Used: Foster, Gibbs, Carrick, Bent.
Goals: Defoe 3, 61, Adam Johnson 83, Defoe 86.
Bulgaria: Mihailov, Ivanov, Milanov, Manolev (Minev 66), Iliyan Stoyanov, Yankov, Angelov, Stiliyan Petrov, Martin Petrov, Bojinov (Rangelov 63), Popov (Peev 79).
Subs Not Used: Vladislav Stoyanov, Kamburov, Domovchiyski, Genchev.
Booked: Popov, Milner.
Att: 73,246.
Ref: Viktor Kassai (Hungary).