Penev hails 'perfect' players on Bulgaria debut
Reuters - Thursday 01 March 2012, 06:58
New Bulgaria coach Luboslav
Penev was full of praise for his side's second half performance
as they battled back from a goal down to earn a 1-1 friendly
draw at Hungary in his first game in charge on Wednesday.
Trailing to an Adam Szalai strike shortly before the
interval, the visitors created several goal-scoring
opportunities before Valeri Bojinov netted a deserved equaliser
with three minutes remaining.
"The players were not good, they were not even excellent,
they were perfect," said Penev, who succeeded German Lothar
Matthaus after Bulgaria's dismal Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.
"We were the better team on the field and I feel sorry that
we didn't score another goal to grab victory.
"We outplayed them, we kept possession for long periods and
the important thing was that we created scoring chances and not
that we missed them.
"We'll begin to score more goals, I have no doubt," added
Penev, who recently said one of his main aims was to instill a
"total football" ethic in the Bulgarian team.
The 45-year-old, who led Litex Lovech to the Bulgarian title
last season, next faces the tricky task of piloting Bulgaria
through a 2014 World Cup qualifying group that contains Italy,
Denmark, Czech Republic, Armenia and Malta.
"We played very well and showed a new, positive face,"
goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov said. "There's a huge difference
between Penev and the previous coach.
"We finally played as a team. Penev and his staff brought a
lot of optimism, many things have changed since their arrival."