Bulgaria hosts Italy in round 2 of the World Cup Qualification. The match will be played on Sunday, March 28th at Nacionalen Stadion Vasil Levski (Sofia)
The national team of Bulgaria, which was not in the last roles in European football in the 1990s, is far from its former glory. After Euro 2004, the Lions did not play at the World Cup and European Championship, and now they look like outsiders in the group with national teams of Italy, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, and Lithuania. The Bulgarians played poorly in the Nations League, where they finished in the last place in the group with Wales, Finland, and Ireland. Hence, they were relegated from League B to League C. Beyond that, the Lions missed the chance to make it to Euro 2020, losing to the Hungarians in the playoff semifinals (1-3). These setbacks led to a change in the national team's coaching staff. In January, the team was headed by Yasen Petrov, who has worked in China in recent years. However, this did not improve the team's results. In the first match of the 2022 World Cup qualification, the Bulgarians lost to the Swiss at home (1-3). The outcome of the meeting was decided in the first 13 minutes, when Bril Embolo, Haris Seferovic, and Steven Zuber breached the hosts' defense three times.
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Roberto Mancini's team is one of the most stable teams in European football. Under the management of the former Zenit coach, Squadra Azzurra has not lost in 19 official matches in a row (15 victories and four draws). Thanks to such a shape, the Italians won 10 of 10 games in the qualification for Euro 2020 and won Group 1 in the elite division of the Nations League. They scored 12 points in the company with teams from the Netherlands, Poland, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. And now Italy is the main favorite in Group C. Mancini's team confirmed these ambitions in the starting round. Squadra Azzurra defeated the players from Northern Ireland with a score of 2-0. The home team scored both goals in the first half thanks to the efforts of Domenico Berardi and Ciro Immobile.
In the last 10 matches, Bulgaria defeated only modest Gibraltar, and that happened in a friendly match (3-0). The Lions have not managed to win in official matches since November 2019. At the same time, the Italians have won eight victories and one draw in their last nine away official meetings. There will be few goals in the upcoming game. The Italians' clean-sheet streak has been going on for consecutive five games, which will be a problem for the weak Bulgarian attack that has managed to score only two times in the last five meetings in the Nations League and Euro 2020 Qualification. We think that Italy will win, but the fans are unlikely to see more than three goals scored.
Prediction for the match: Italy to win and Under 3.5 goals scored
