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SLOVENIA – BULGARIA 4:1 (3:1)

January 4th, 2016, St. Petersburg, Peterburgsky SCC, 300 spectators

Best players: Kristjan Sredojevic, Kaloyan Krastev

Post match comments

Igor Benedejcic, Head coach of team Slovenia:

– I am satisfied with the results but not with the play itself. We started with lots of mistakes. But the result is also important and remembered, and I hope that in the next game my players will improve.

– You are quite critical about your team, while there was an early goal on the 5th minute. Was this a pre-match task?

– No, it wasn’t. There was no special task for it. But we started very well, with good pressing, and, hence, the result.

– There is always a question at the first press-conference: have you brought the most optimal lineup to the tournament?

– We have several international players who play in Derby County, Southampton, Fiorentina. They could not come. So now we are looking closer at those who came here.

– In today’s game you first sent Dedic on the pitch and then substituted him. Why was that?

– Well, I was not satisfied with his actions on the field, and besides he already had one yellow card and there was a risk to lose him.

Viktorio Pavlov, Head coach of team Bulgaria:

– We brought a team of year 1999. Taking into account that all our players are younger than their opponents I wouldn’t criticize my guys. On the contrary, I think we did well during the second half.

– You are playing against Azerbaijan in next game. Do you have information about the opposing side?

– At this point we don’t have information neither on Azerbaijan nor on any other team. One of the reasons of such a lack of information is that it was rather late when we made a decision to bring exactly this squad. I was told that Azerbaijan also brought a team of year 1999. In fact, it’s good for us to be younger. We will be playing against strong teams during this year, and this tournament is a sort of training and an opportunity for the players to become tougher as a team.

– Isn’t it a high risk? At this age even a one year difference is quite significant.

– Let me repeat myself: we have deliberately made this decision. Yes, it’s risky. And you might have noticed that Slovenia was better physically today. At this age the muscles and the bone structure may differ much. But we were decisive about this, because we shall have important matches of the European Championship Qualifying round.

– As it seemed, your goalkeeper was not confident in the goals today. Is it your main goalkeeper?

– This is absolutely normal. Everyone at this age makes mistakes. Especially given it’s the first match on the tournament. The entire team was anxious a bit. I think we’ll manage to be stronger match-by-match. As for the goalkeeper, yes, he is number one in the team. We trust him and we are behind him.

#5 Slovenia – Bulgaria

Slovenia – Bulgaria highlights