Bulgaria and Bosnia Play to Draw
June 1, 2016
Asim Ferhatovic Hase Stadium
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Milcho Angelov (above) had two one-on-ones saved
Underdog visitors Bulgaria played hosts Bosnia and Herzegovina to a hard-fought 0 - 0 draw in Sarajevo.
Lineups
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: (4-1-2-1-2): Begovic; Skrijelj; Spahic (c); Smajlovic; Baljic; Salihovic; Stevanovic; Pjanic; Misimovic; Dzeko; Ibisevic
Subs: Kamberovic; Atajic; Huseinbasic; Hadzic; Hodzic; Sanicanin; Grozdanic; Skenderovic; Sibcic; Racic; Adilovic
BULGARIA: (4-1-1-3-1): Iliev; Nedyalkov; Velkov; Ivanov; Dimov; Gamakov; Slavchev; Despodov; Nedelev (c); Milanov; Angelov
Subs: Kitanov; Terziev; Kitov; Micanski; Milanov; Delev; Popov; Galabov; Chochev; Tsonev; Zanev; Stoyanov
Match Odds from Sky Bet
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-6 (Favorite); Draw 5-1; Bulgaria 10-1
MATCH:
Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina met in Sarajevo for a friendly match, 11 days before the Bosnians open their 2016 European Championship Campaign against Greece. Bulgaria was playing their first match in nearly 200 days, the last coming against Cyprus in November 2015.
The game began with Bosnia attacking the Bulgarians along the wings, while Bulgaria attempted a counter attack strategy. Bosnia got their first change seven minutes in, when Sejad Salihovic took a corner. Bulgaria's Simeon Slavchev, the FC Barcelona midfielder, headed the ball clear, but it was picked up by Miralem Pjanic. Pjanic, running the up the right wing, put a cross in for Manchester City striker, Edin Dzeko. Dzeko put a header goalwards but Bulgaria goalkeeper Plamen Iliev made a magnificent save.
Off the save, Slavchev cleared the ball forward to Milcho Angelov. Angelov went one-on-one with Bosnian keeper Asmir Begovic, but his close shot was saved.
Bosnia got another chance in the 11th minute when Dzeko's shot from just outside of the box rattled off the crossbar, but was quickly cleared away by Bulgaria.
Not six minutes later, Slavchev intercepted a pass and passed forward to Todor Nedelev. Nedelev exchanged passes with Georgia Milanov and Slavchev, who got to through to Angelov. However, Angelov's shot was stopped again by Begovic with his fingertips.
Simeon Slavchev (Center, 2) completed 86% of his passes (66/77)
The game went into halftime 0 - 0, although both sides had themselves some good chances and each side was playing good defense. Bulgaria got the second half started but couldn't get anything going right away.
Bosnia made some noise in the 55th minute, when Dzeko headed a ball that was intercepted by Slavchev. Milanov got the ball from Slavchev, and dribbled the ball all the way up the left flank of the pitch. With a beautiful cross right in his path, he attempted but was blocked! Celtic's youngster Bahrudin Atajic got the ball and played it to Dzeko. Dzeko sent a beautiful through ball to Armin Hodzic, but his shot was saved by Iliev.
Bulgaria was playing well over the next period and got another chance in the 72nd minute. Begovic started if off with a goal kick that was taken in by Almir Racic, who headed it forward. The ball bounced around several heads and ended up back with Racic, who, for some reason, passed it back to Begovic. Begovic dribbled the ball well outside the box and cleared forward.
Petar Zanev of Bulgaria picked up the header and played it through to Nedelev, who passed to Milanov. Milanov gave another great through ball to Angelov, and Angelov passed back to Nedelev. Nedelev took a shot but Begovic made another beautiful save, stopping Bulgaria's counter attack.
That would end it for both sides, as neither Bosnia nor Bulgaria could get anything going for the last twenty minutes of play. Bulgaria will now look forward to the World Cup Qualifiers while Bosnia has one more friendly against Finland before the Euro 2016 tournament.
