The World Cup Challenge

So the Euro 2016 qualifiers have come to an end and 20 teams have already punched their tickets to join France in the competition. Three more spots will be decided during the two-legged playoffs between the six best third-placed teams - despite placing third, we did not qualify for the playoffs.

Qualifiers

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Not many surprises from Groups A, B, or C, as favorites Belgium, Romania, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, and Russia all made it through. In Group D there was a surprise as Israel qualified over Greece or Finland. No surprises in Group E as Switzerland and Turkey qualify, but Wales qualifying over Portugal in Group F was a shocker. Spain and Slovenia got through Group G and Italy and Denmark made it out of our group. In Group I, the Netherlands made it through easy, but Armenia qualifying was a huge surprise. And in Group J, Poland and England made it through. The playoff matchups will be:

Greece v Slovakia

Portugal v Scotland

Montenegro v Austria

Just one change made to the squad before the friendly matches. Defensive midfielder Svetoslav Dyakov, who had not been in good form for Olympiacos was dropped, and young 18 year old left back Ivan Dimov was called up. Dimov has been in excellent form for Qatari side Al-Sadd and has made 9 appearances for the U-21 National squad. Here is his profile:

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However, surprisingly, HSV manager Mirko Slomka decided to withdraw our star midfielder Todor Nedelev from the squad. 19 year old attacking midfielder Antonio Vutov made his return to the squad as his replacement, as he seeks his first cap. And then, to make matters worse, Kiril Despodov, who scored twice against Israel, fell ill and needed to be replaced. Striker/central attacking midfielder Milcho Angelov, 20, got the call up to the senior squad for the first time.
Angelov gets the winning goal for the squad on his debut but we really should have won this one by a bigger margin. We still got a win though so no real complaints here.

Iliev, the backup goalie, kept us in this game, saving many Cyprus chances, but in the end, a late header off a corner allowed for an equalizer. Still, a good performance all-around.

Euro 2016 Qualifiers Playoff Round-up

Greece defeated Slovakia 1-1 on away goals

Portugal came back from down 0-3 the first leg to defeat Scotland 4-3

Montenegro fell hard, losing 1-6 on aggregate to Austria

Only one member of the senior squad moved this winter, with German outfit Werder Bremen purchasing left back Ivan Dimov, fresh off his 19th birthday, from Qatari side Al-Sadd for a fee of $5.75M (3.42M pounds).

• Man City splurged the cash on two big-name attackers, purchasing Julian Draxler from Schalke for his $60M (35.7M pounds) release clause, and bringing back striker Mario Balotelli from A.C. Milan for $48.5M (28.9M pounds).
  
• AS Monaco FC purchased Sevilla's lethal striker Adrian for a fee of $35.5M (21.1M pounds).
  

The Bosnians return to the Top 15 of the FIFA/Coca-Cola men's World Ranking for the first time in under a year, while Japan falls down to 16th.

Indonesia (144th, up 23) and Myanmar (145th, up 14) were the only nations to jump more than ten spots this month. Indonesia defeated Nepal (195th) in a friendly and India (137th) in a group stage match of the 2016 AFC Challenge Cup. Myanmar beat Guam (168th) in a friendly and Singapore (139th) in a group stage match from the same competition.

India (137th, down 11) and Turkmenistan (155th, down 11) were the only nations to fall more than ten spots. India defeated Kyrgyzstan (161st) in a friendly match but lost to China (65th) and Tajikistan (98th) in friendlies and to Indonesia in the Challenge Cup. Turkmenistan was idle over the last period.

The top 20:

1. Argentina
2. Spain
3. Italy
4. England
5. Uruguay
6. Netherlands
7. Germany
8. Brazil
9. Czech Republic 1
10. Belgium 1
11. Mexico
12. Chile
13. Portugal
14. Denmark
15. Bosnia and Herzegovina 1
16. Japan 1
17. Croatia
18. Colombia
19. Ukraine
20. Switzerland

The rest of the rankings:

Mitch Collins, the head man for Bulgaria, has named his 23-man squad to face Bosnia and Herzegovina in a friendly in Sarajevo later this week.

Midfielder Todor Nedelev, who was pulled from the last squad by former Hamburger SV boss Mirko Slomka, returns to the squad in place of Sampdoria midfielder Antonio Vutov. Litex midfielder Kiril Despodov, who missed the last period with injury, returned, and midfielder Vladimir Gadzhev was dropped.

Two longtime Bulgaria players who were in poor form were also dropped. Right back Stanislav Manolev, who has been in poor form for Brighton & Hove Albion, was dropped, as well as Levante goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov. Litex defender Plamen Galabov and Ludogrets goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov were called up.

The full squad is listed below.

PREGAME:

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.

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.

Levski's 21 year old midfielder Radoslav Tsonev has agreed to a deal with Russian side Spartak Moscow. Earlier, the club agreed to a 2.8 million pounds fee for the Bulgarian international. He will sign a four year deal worth 12.5K pounds p/w.

Tsonev made his debut for the Bulgarian senior squad in June 2015 against Liberia, and has since gone on to be capped four times. Last season in 18 appearances for Levski he scored 1 goal and added two assists. He began his career with Levski in the 2009-10 season.

21 year old striker Milcho Angelov is en route to Greece following his agreement with Olympiacos on four year contract. Earlier this week, the club agreed to a 3.2 million pounds fee with Angelov's former club, Ukrainian side Dnipro.

The Bulgarian international made his debut for the senior squad in November 2015 against Lithuania, a match in which he also scored. He has featured in two matches for Bulgaria since, giving him 3 career caps. Last season was a strong one for Angelov as a club player, as he scored 14 times and assisted 3 for Dnipro in 20 league matches.

Angelov began his career in the youth ranks of Chernomorets, where he stayed for five season before moving on to Dnipro.

Bulgarian midfielder Ivaylo Chochev has agreed to a deal with German outfit Hamburger SV and will join the team tomorrow. The contract is said to be a 5 year deal worth 28K pounds p/w. HSV agreed to a 4.5 million pounds fee to sign Chochev from Ukrainian side Metalist.

Chochev has made nine appearances for the national side, his first coming in August 2013 against Argentina. He scored his first international goal on March 31, 2015 against Saudi Arabia, and has scored a total of 2 overall. Last season, Chochev appeared in 21 league matches for Metalist, scoring once and assisting five times.

Best Player: Eden Hazard, Belgium (4 apps, 3 goals, 4 assists)
Golden Boot: Luka Modric, Croatia (7 apps, 4 goals, 2 assists)

England has climbed up to first in the latest edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men's World Rankings, fresh off their victory in the 2016 European Championship in France. Argentina and Spain, who previously sat on top of the rankings, fell two spots each to third and fourth, respectively, while Italy, who reached the Round of 16, moved up to second.

Croatia, who finished runners-up in the tournament, jumped nine spots to eighth. Switzerland, a semi-finalist, jumped ten spots to tenth.

The Gambia made the biggest jump in this month's rankings, moving up 52 spots to 86th, following a huge victory over Nigeria in a 2018 World Cup Qualifier. Other nations to move more than forty spots were Fiji (139th, up 51), Papa New Guinea (145th, up 47), and Myanmar (98th, up 47).

Haiti had the biggest drop this month, falling 29 spots to 132nd. Other countries to drop more than 25 spots were Estonia (110th, down 26), Ethiopia (134th, down 25), and Pakistan (177th, down 25).

The top 20:

1. England 3
2. Italy 1
3. Argentina 2
4. Spain 2
5. Uruguay
6. Belgium 4
7. Germany
8. Croatia 9
9. Brazil 1
10. Switzerland 10
11. Netherlands 5
12. Mexico 1
13. Chile 1
14. Portugal 1
15. Russia 6
16. Japan
17. France 12
18. Czech Republic 9
19. Ecuador 6
20. Bosnia and Herzegovina 5

The 19 year old Bulgarian central defender has agreed with the Ligue 1 side on a four year contract worth 31K pounds p/w. PSG negotiated a fee of 19 million pounds to sign Velkov from Girondins Bordeaux.

Velkov is a full Bulgaria international, having made his senior squad debut on March 31, 2015 against Saudi Arabia and going on to be capped six times. Velkov began his youth career at Slavia (Sofia) before signing with Girondins Bordeaux in 2013. Last season he made 23 appearances and had an average match rating of 7.10.

And this is where I stand. Hope you guys will enjoy this story.

Argentina has returned to the top of the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men's World Rankings following a brief one month absence. La Albiceleste won their second straight Copa America last month. England and Italy each fell one spot, to second and third, respectively.

Ecuador, who came runner-up in the Copa America, moved up four spots to 15th. Japan fell three spots to 19th.

Eritrea made the biggest jump this month, moving up 18 spots to 157th. Other countries to move up more than 15 spots were Guinea-Bissau (145th, up 18), Swaziland (149, up 17), Comoros (170th, up 16) and Mauritania (140th, up 16).

Syria were the only country to drop more than five spots, falling 9 spots to 118th.


The top 20:

1. Argentina 2
2. England 1
3. Italy 1
4. Spain
5. Uruguay
6. Belgium
7. Germany
8. Brazil 1
9. Croatia 1
10. Switzerland
11. Netherlands
12. Mexico
13. Chile
14. Portugal
15. Ecuador 4
16. Russia 1
17. France
18. Czech Republic
19. Japan 3
20. Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bulgarian national team manager Mitch Collins has named his 23-man squad to face Macedonia and Armenia in 2018 World Cup Qualifying matches this week.

Only one change was made from Collins' last squad. Striker Ilian Micanski, who infamously scored 6 goals in a 2014 World Cup Qualifier against Malta, was dropped from the squad for the first time in Collins' tenure. In his place, Collins recalled 27 year old Rubin striker Ventsislav Hristov.

The full squad is below.