What a shadow this team is comparing it to the team of old. I can remember Bulgaria being one of the most technically gifted teams in the world during the 1994 world cup. Lechkov, Balakov, Stoichkov etc........a joy to watch indeed.
All this time i'd been racking my brain for the name of the Bulgarian with only one testicle. And you named him..... Balakov.
Wasn`t the team at the time made up of mainly CSKA and Levski Sofia players and then after 94 they became much sought after players and split all over Europe.
Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Poland and Hungary all seem to have had a golden generation and before and after that have done nowt.
I remember the Poland 82 side, they were pretty impressive in some games, Boniek the star player, think he got an hat trick in one of the games, Belgium maybe. They finished 3rd.
The 82 world cup is still my favourite. Brazil 82, the best side in the tournament and probably the best team not to win a world cup.
Their golden era (I think) was 74 to 82. They had Boniek and a striker who won the Golden Boot - Gregorsz Lato(sp). Belgium were another team who had a golden generation 82 to 90 players like Ceulemans and Scifo. Funny how they all come through together then nowt.
A lot of teams in the eastern block seem to have a golden era. Croatia for example. Turkey springs to mind as well. Finished third? In Japan. England meanwhile has had a golden generation for ten years and done **** all.
And lest we forget the great Soviet Union side of 1988. Rinat Daseev, Sergey Yuran, Vasiliy Rats and of course Alexey Mixailichenko whose hat-trick destroyed England in the Euros that year. They would have won that tournament if it wasn't for Gullit and Van Basten. Don't think you're being very fair about Croatia though, they have consistently produced sides ranging from good to outstanding since they became independant. Until we beat them in World Cup qualifying in 2009 they'd never lost a competitive match at home.
Perhaps I am on Croatia but my over riding memory is of them coming from no where and shocking everyone. The likes of suker boban him who played for Portsmouth who my phone gives up trying to spell and so forth. And could say the same about the Czech republic as well. And demark won the euros as well. All smaller nations who's players play in European big leagues thus improving their game and being proud to play for their country. Polar opposite to English players.
They came from nowhere because they only became a country in c.1990. On Belgium, they have got another good batch coming through now it seems.
Yes, didn't Yugoslavia actually qualify for Euro 88 but kicked out when the war started. Replaced by Denmark who went on to win it.
