World Cup 2010 Qualifier Betting: Bulgaria v Republic of Ireland

Internationals / Paul Byrne / 04 June 2009 / Leave a Comment

Paul Byrne looks ahead to Saturday's match as Trappatoni and co. prepare for battle...

Saturday June 6th sees the 65th anniversary of what was known as D-Day, the day when the Allied forces arrived in Europe to liberate the continent from Nazi occupation. General Giovanni Trapattoni will have his very own D-Day this weekend as he leads his Irish troops to Sofia in the hope of defeating the enemy and marching one step closer to the ultimate goal which is qualification for the World Cup in South Africa next year.

Victory for the Irish will almost certainly end Bulgarian hopes of qualification and will leave Ireland and Italy deciding between the prizes of automatic qualification and a play-off spot. Only problem is those pesky Bulgarians are pretty darn good and achieving that victory may prove a tad troublesome.

Lets face it, when the Bulgarians met Ireland in Croke Park back in March they completely out-played the hosts and were rather unfortunate to leave Dublin with just a solitary point. How Bulgaria didn't win, considering the amount of chances they created, was a shock of Susan Boyle proportions. Like Boyle, Bulgaria weren't seen as much of a threat as they initially shuffled onto the Croke Park stage but once they got into their stride they produced some mesmerising football and seemingly broke through the Irish defence at will. The Bulgarians had talent alright. And all this was without their marquee names of Bojinov, Dimitar Berbatov and Martin Petrov.

In fairness to Ireland they started very brightly in Dublin and as ridiculous as it may sound they almost scored too early that night. After Dunne's goal in the first minute the Irish players seemed to immediately retreat and invite the Bulgarians to have a go. Stiliyan Petrov and co were only too delighted to accept the offer and it was they who controlled the majority of the game. Lessons will no doubt have been learned from that evening and in fairness to Ireland they responded really really well in Bari when drawing with the World Champions of Italy. In Trapattoni, Ireland have a manager who seems to be able to learn from his mistakes and better still he has made the Irish a very hard team to beat.

The word from the training ground is that Sean St Ledger could well make his competitive international debut beside Richard Dunne in the centre of defence. This would see John O'Shea switch to right back, Kevin Kilbane staying at left back and Paul McShane dropping to the bench. A risky move perhaps, but St Ledger was pretty impressive against the Nigerians and it's fair to say that Paul McShane has been about as effective as an ashtray on a motorcycle in recent outings for the Irish.

Traps obviously sees McShane as a weak link in defence and is willing to gamble with St Ledgers inclusion to shore up a defence that hasn't kept a clean sheet in six games now.

The Bulgarians don't tend to concede too many at home but apart from Italy the calibre of opposition they've faced over the past year hasn't really been too strong. Robbie Keane has been a hero for Traps so far in this campaign and with five goals in his last five matches he's always a decent bet to grab a goal for the boys in green.

Betfair punters are offering us [2.05] for both teams to score and giving the fact that the Irish have managed to score in ten of their last eleven games I reckon that's not a bad bet to take. Stiliyan Petrov looked very dangerous against Ireland and was pretty unfortunate not to get himself onto the scoresheet. He is available at [8.0] to score anytime and that to me looks like a bit of value.

Ireland's midfield has been their achilles heal thus far in this campaign and it's probably fair to say that if we had either Steven Reid or Steven Ireland in their from the start we'd be at least two or three points better off. In fairness to Whelan and Andrews they've got stuck in every game and both have definitely improved with each passing match. Whelan in particular had an excellent second half to the season with Stoke and hopefully he can carry that form into Saturday's game.

Word from the training ground is suggesting that Stephen Hunt will start in place of Aiden McGeady on the left. It's very hard to know if this is the right decision. Hunt reminds me of an old girlfriend I used to have. And it's not just the hair I'm talking about! She was a frustratingly inconsistent girl. One minute she was hugging me telling me how great I was and the next she was throwing cups at me telling me what a useless excuse of a man I was! Like Hunt, she was ridiculously inconsistent, unlike Hunt she had a great shot (I had many bruises to prove it). All we can do is pray that the Stephen Hunt who turned up in Bari takes to the field this weekend against the Bulgarians.

Unfortunately, and rather unpatriotically, I'm afraid to say I think the Bulgarians will have just that little bit too much for us with their excellent ball retention ability proving key in the end. We saw in the European Champions League Final how important keeping the ball is and unfortunately right now we're not very good at that rather important facet of the game. The [2.08] on offer for the Bulgarians to win seems just about fair and should be taken. That said, the team have a great spirit and in Robbie Keane and Caleb Folan they have a strike duo who have the ability to cause trouble to the Bulgarian defence. A saver on 1-1 @ [7.2] is also advised as this will in all likeliness be a close game and if Hunt is in form we could well get something from the game.

Best of luck to Traps and the boys and hopefully their D-Day will be one of Delight rather than Disaster.