South Korea - Bulgaria friendly 18.11.03 kick-off 11:00 CET

[cluelessG]

I am not a big fan of friendlies for betting purposes but I feel it is my duty to provide you with some info about this match. You can probably read about it only in South Korean and Bulgarian papers only. I am not even sure if it will be shown on TV live in Bulgaria.
The local papers here state several important facts about this game:
1. Huge interest from local fans in Korea - 55 000 tickets sold (65 000 seats available).
2. Many backbone Bulgarian players missing - Martin Petrov, Stan Petrov, Berbatov...
3. As a result Bulgaria will probably field a 4-5-1 formation, with Yankovich as striker, who will probably be replaced by the unexperienced Kamburov in the second half (not impressive names, huh)
4. The Bulgarian team had a 10-hour flight and failed to get a proper training session because they were too tired; only Yankovich is OK as he plays in China
5. The Koreans have already paid USD 200 K to the Bulgarian Footy Federation - as a fee for participating in the match

Now, do you think that Bulgaria is going to spoil the happy mood of those 55 000 Koreans at the stadium and the friendly Korean Footy Federation? I do not think so!

Away win will be a miracle for me.

Very good analysis....However I thought this was the Republic of Korea playing not South Korea......

Japan - Cameroon 2@3.40
I will try with away win here.It's hard to understand such a big price for Cameroon.They will play with strong team,including Samuel Eto'o(Mallorca),Eric Djemba Djemba(ManUtd) and Rigobert Song(Lens).Japan has some well known names,but still they are just a mediocore football team.Japan will be able to field their stars:Takahara(HSV),Inamoto(Fulham),Ono(Feyenoord) ,Nakata(Parma),...But they have some problems,because two players got injuries in the last 24 hours,Mitsuo Ogasawara(Kashima) and Yuji Nakazawa(Yokohama).And midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura(Reggina) is out too,so price 3.40 at centrebet isn't so bad at all.Japaniese national coach said that this match,against finalist of the Confederatin cup,should be a one more lesson for his players.They will try to win of course,but there is no pressure on them.

I thought the republic of korea was south korea?
Anyway, the 200k to play the game sounds interesting, i wonder what the refs getting?

Betfair have it down as South Korea

[Matt]

Rep of Korea is South Korea

[stereoman]

An away win isn't impossible but you have to be weary when the home or away side don't give a monkey's because they're lacking in passion or playing an experimental side because of injuries or what not.

Look at Sunday's game between England/Denmark (another occasion where England 'surprisingly' fell foul of a relatively big underdog. Denmark were no business to be quoted at odds of up to 11/2....says the man who went for the draw instead. ).

The Asian sides are nowhere near as good as World Cup 2002 suggested (did it suggest anything other than how lucky they were?) and after all it's only a friendly so who gives a monkey's?

Don't do your dough on this type of bollocks....both are shifty teams at the best of times in trying to predict a result for their matches they're involved in.

Does anyone know for certain when this game is going to start? Everywhere I look has a different time down - I've seen 09:00, 11:00, and 19:45 (all GMT). The supporters will get their money's worth by the looks of it.:b

Cheers in advance.

[Matt]

its in south korea mike so expect about 10am or 10.30.

Korea will take this match very seriously,for sure.They haven't problems with the squad,but I don't think that Korea is so strong and Bulgaria can take a draw easily.Anyway,it's "no bet" for me!

[cluelessG]

I fully agree that the draw is possible. Still 1X is a very solid bet for me, I've gone for max stakes here - odds 1.37 at betfair.

good luck guys but it aint for me - did you know korea have had a mini crisis since the WC and have lost to Oman and Vietnam in the last month with the new manager coelha under severe pressure - bulgaria are fielding a strong side which is pretty much the team which qulaified for euro 2004 inc celtics petrov and dimitar berbatov I think who plays for leverkusen.

good luck though guys :rolleyes

[edtkh]

Just for the record, South Korea is also known as the Republic of Korea while North Korea is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Funny how these friendlies work - Korea 0-1 Bulgaria FT. No wonder we keep saying we're never gonna touch friendlies ever again...

[cluelessG]

yep, those Koreans turned out to be very poor... and I am back to the drawing board

sorry for not finding out that info I posted earlier guys I only looked into it this morning - 5 mins notice isnt really going to give enough time to put you off is it - Ive learned from these games all too well in the past - AVOID them at all costs, or if you are having a punt then keep the stakes small.

This result shouldn't be such a big surprise.Bulgaria plays excelent football at the moment and they are not good just because they have Berbatov or Petrov!It seems that the whole atmosphere in the Bulgarian national team is good and good results are normal things!I saw them vs.Croatia and they have really impressed me.And if I'm not wrong Bulgaria had a very good team for this clash vs.Korea!?

You must have a much more faith in your national team,clueless!

[cluelessG]

hehe, which match against Croatia did you see Kojic? I suppose the one in Sofia, which I missed - it was a very good match for us. The away match was a very sad occassion for Bulgarian fans as we played without motivation and our defence was ripped apart far too often. Hopefully all injured players will shake off their problems and will be in top form in Portugal this summer. I believe we can get some good results there as we have skilled players and excellent team spirit.

Anyway, some post match info:
Bulgarian starting lineup:
Zdravkov
Kirilov - Pazhin - Krastev - Topuzakov
Dimitrov - Peev - Hristov - Lazarov
Manchev - Yankovich

Hardly a strong lineup, many regulars missing.
Reports say that we were "slightly outplayed" and "the second half was played in the Bulgarian half of the field". We relied on counter-attacks mainly. The goalie Zdravkov saved the day with a very good performance.
Overall I think I have only the poor Korean team to blame for the result today. I should try to find more info about both teams next time.

Not the strongest lineup,but still enaugh for mediocore team like Korea is.Peev,Hristov and Lazarov as midfielders,with attackers Manchev and Yankovich can't be so weak!