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Euro 2020 qualifiers: England thrash Bulgaria after game was temporarily halted over racist abuse

Qualifiers
Sofia, Oct. 14, 2019 (Reuters/NAN) England bounced back from their first tournament qualifying defeat for 10 years with a 6-0 thrashing of toothless Bulgaria on Monday in Sofia in a Euro 2020 Group A clash.

The game was, however, marred by racist incidents in the first half.

The match at the Vasil Levski stadium was temporarily halted by the referee in the first half under a three-step UEFA protocol to tackle racist abuse from the crowd.

Racist chanting was heard from the stands and reported by England players to manager Gareth Southgate, with the referee informed and a public announcement made on two occasions.

On the pitch, England midfielder Ross Barkley netted twice after Marcus Rashford had opened the scoring in the seventh minute.

Southgate’s side highlighted the gap in quality with the hosts before Raheem Sterling struck just before half-time.

England’s comfortable victory was rounded off by Sterling’s second goal midway through the second half.

And a cool finish from captain Harry Kane five minutes from the end inflicted on Bulgaria their heaviest-ever home defeat.

England, who moved closer to a place at Euro 2020, are top with 15 points from six games.

They are three ahead of the Czech Republic and four in front of Kosovo who beat Montenegro 2-0.(Reuters/NAN)
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(Edited by Dianabasi Effiong and Olawale Alabi)

Sport

Kane nets hat-trick as England romp past Bulgaria

Hat-trick

London, Sept 7, 2019 (Reuters/NAN) England’s serene progress towards Euro 2020 continued as skipper Harry Kane grabbed a hat-trick in a 4-0 demolition of Bulgaria in Group A at Wembley on Saturday.

Kane opened the scoring after 24 minutes and struck home two penalties after the break as well as providing the assist for Raheem Sterling to get on the scoresheet.

Gareth Southgate’s side have now scored 14 goals in their opening three Group A games and lead the table with nine points while Kosovo who earlier beat the Czech Republic 2-1, have eight points.

England host Kosovo for the first time on Tuesday when another victory will leave them looking virtually assured of reaching next year’s tournament that culminates on home soil.

It was not a perfect display by England with Bulgaria having three good chances, one when the score was 0-0.
However, England proved far too strong as they left the visitors languishing at the bottom of the group with two points from five games.

Kane’s second hat-trick for England, following the one he scored against Panama at last year’s World Cup finals, took his tally to 25 goals in 40 appearances.

Eight of of the goals were from the penalty spot. (Reuters/NAN)

KIA/MZA

Edited by Maharazu Ahmed

Sport

Controversial penalty kick earns Bulgaria draw against Montenegro

Controversial

Sofia, March 22, 2019 (Reuters/NAN) Bulgaria midfielder Todor Nedelev scored a dubious late penalty kick to help them earn a 1-1 home draw in their opening Euro 2020 Group A qualifier against Montenegro on Friday.

The penalty kick was awarded in the 82nd minute for a foul by Montenegro substitute Vladimir Jovovic on Stanislav Kostov.

But television replays showed the incident happened outside the penalty area.

Stefan Mugosa opened the scoring when he curled in a brilliant left-foot shot five minutes after the break.

The effort gave Bulgaria goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov no chance, having beaten Vasil Bozhikov and Petar Zanev by putting the ball through their legs.

Bulgaria were unable to get into their stride for most of the second half, but 17-year-old debutant Martin Minchev almost secured a late win when he shot just wide.

Bulgaria visit Kosovo on Monday when Montenegro will host England.

Gareth Southgate’s side faced Czech Republic later on Friday.(Reuters/NAN)

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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)

Sport

Bulgaria calls for tough response to football violence

Violence
Sofia, April 20, 2018 (Reuters/NAN) The Bulgarian government has called for tough measures to crack down on violent football fans after a policewoman was injured in an explosion at the Sofia derby on Wednesday.

Some 40 Levski Sofia fans were detained after a policewoman sustained an eye injury and underwent surgery following the incident at the Vasil Levski stadium. 

The incident occurred during a league match between the 26-times Bulgarian champions and their bitter city rival CSKA.

“The first step which will be taken is that the interior ministry will issue recommendations to the sports ministry.

“It will provide for increased access control and identification of those who have access to football events,” the sports ministry said in a statement.

The offender, who set off the explosion has not yet been found, police said.

The police officer, who will need another operation to retain vision in her injured eye, was hit by broken glass after a device exploded near a stadium entrance, while another policeman sustained minor injuries.

The Eternal Derby, as matches between the two most popular clubs in the Balkan country are known, has a long history of crowd violence.

A man was killed by a bomb after a game in 2000 and hooliganism has been rife since then.

There have also been numerous arrests.

Levski condemned Wednesday’s violence in a statement, but the club face a potential three-match home stadium ban and a fine of 30,000 levs (13,461 pounds).

The Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) will announce its decision in the case on Friday.

Most Balkan states, including Bulgaria, are known to have groups of hardcore football fans, known as ‘ultras’ that are frequently behind stadium trouble.

Football-related violence has spiraled in Bulgaria since the fall of communism in 1989 with threats and even physical violence against players and officials now commonplace. 

The Bulgarian sports ministry said another measure to combat stadium violence should be the creation of a working group to prepare legislative changes that will lead to “increased personal responsibility”.

 “There must be a public response and irreconcilability to such hooliganism,” said the interior ministry’s Chief Secretary Mladen Marinov. “We have to jointly oppose such acts.”

The interior ministry’s police union called for stricter sanctions for people showing aggression or showing disrespect to police officers.

“The incident at the football match is part of the terror spread across the stadiums and streets, which is directed against the law, morality and the whole society,” the union said.(Reuters/NAN)
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(Edited by Abiodun Esan and Olawale Alabi)