Football World Cup 1974 / Bulgaria

This article covers the Bulgarian national football team at the 1974 World Cup .

qualification

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Bulgaria	13: 3	10
2	Portugal	10: 6	7th
3	Northern Ireland	5: 6	5
4th	Cyprus	1:14	2

Bulgaria	-	Northern Ireland	3-0
Cyprus	-	Bulgaria	0: 4
Bulgaria	-	Portugal	2: 1
Northern Ireland	-	Bulgaria	0-0
Portugal	-	Bulgaria	2: 2
Bulgaria	-	Cyprus	2-0

Bulgarian contingent

Number / name		Association at the time	birthday	International matches
goalkeeper
1	Rumencho Goranov	Sofia locomotive	03/17/1950
21st	Stefan Staikow	Levski Sofia	10/03/1949
22nd	Simeon Simeonow	Levski Sofia	04/26/1946
Defense
2	Ivan Zafirov	CSKA Sofia	12/30/1947
3	Dobromir Shechev	Levski Sofia	11/12/1942
6th	Dimitar Penew	CSKA Sofia	07/12/1945
7th	Wojn Wojnow	Levski Sofia	07.09.1952
12	Stefan Aladschow	CSKA Sofia	October 18, 1947
13	Mladen Wasilew	Akademik Sofia	07/29/1947
18th	Zonjo Wasilew	CSKA Sofia	07/01/1952
19th	Kiril Ivkov	Levski Sofia	06/21/1946
midfield
4th	Stefan Welitschkow	Etar Veliko Tarnovo	02/15/1949
5	Boschil Kolew	CSKA Sofia	05/20/1949
8th	Christo Bonew	Plovdiv locomotive	02/03/1947
10	Ivan Stoyanov	Levski Sofia	01/20/1949
11	Georgi Denew	CSKA Sofia	04/18/1950
17th	Asparuch Nikodimov	CSKA Sofia	08/21/1945
attack
9	Atanas Mikhailov	Sofia locomotive	07/04/1949
14th	Kiril Milanov	Levski Sofia	10/17/1948
15th	Pavel Panov	Levski Sofia	09/14/1950
16	Boschidar Grigorov	Slavia Sofia	07/27/1945
20th	Krassimir Borisov	Levski Sofia	04/08/1950
Trainer
	Christo Mladenow		07/01/1928

Games of the Bulgarian team

First round

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Netherlands	6: 1	5
2	Sweden	3-0	4th
3	Bulgaria	2: 5	2
4th	Uruguay	1: 6	1

• Sweden - Bulgaria 0: 0 (0: 0)

Stadium: Rheinstadion ( Düsseldorf )

Spectators: 22,500

Referee: Perez Nunes ( Peru )

Goals: none

• Uruguay - Bulgaria 1: 1 (0: 0)

Stadium: Niedersachsenstadion ( Hannover )

Spectators: 12,000

Referee: Taylor ( England )

Goals: 0: 1 Bonew (75th), 1: 1 Pavoni (87th)

• Netherlands - Bulgaria 4: 1 (2: 0)

Stadium: Westfalenstadion ( Dortmund )

Spectators: 52,100

Referee: Boskovic ( Australia )

Goals: 1-0 Neeskens (5th) 11m , 2-0 Neeskens (45th) 11m , 3-0 Rep (71st), 3: 1 Krol (78th) own goal , 4: 1 de Jong (88th)

After the preliminary round, all observers agreed. The best team in this part of the finals were (besides the Poles) the Dutch around the two Johanns, Cruyff and Neeskens. Against the defensive Swedes it was enough in the second game of Group III only to a 0-0, but Uruguay (2-0) and Bulgaria (4-1) were confidently defeated. The Swedes shone especially in the 3-0 win against the Urus, who, still weak in attack, now also revealed glaring weaknesses in defense. Bulgaria managed to score two points against Sweden (0-0) and Uruguay (1-1). But that wasn't enough to get ahead.