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NIGERIA go into today's match with Bulgaria in Paris buzzing after Saturday's amazing 3-2 win over Spain, and are full of confidence, refusing to countenance defeat.
Victory at the Parc des Princes would take the Olympic champions through to the second round for the second successive finals and heavy losses to Holland and Yugoslavia in pre-Cup friendlies are already just a distant memory. Defeat is the last thing on the Nigerians' minds.
"We don't have that word in our dictionary," said veteran goalkeeper Peter Rufai, who was at fault for Spain's first goal last week. Bulgaria lost 3-0 to Nigeria at USA 94 before staging an amazing recovery to reach the semi-finals, where they were beaten by a Roberto Baggio brace for Italy. Revenge in the stadium that witnessed one of their greatest triumphs, the victory over France to qualify for the 1994 finals, would be sweet. "They will be more determined this time round," added Rufai, who was in goal for that Dallas triumph. "In 1994 we caught them napping but they'll be looking for revenge now."
All three goalscorers from that match are still in the Nigerian squad, although both Rashidi Yekini and Daniel Amokachi did not make the starting line-up against Spain. While Amokachi, the former Everton striker, is spouting claims that they want to score more than three this time, captain Uche Okechukwu injected a note of caution. "We haven't qualified yet. We have two games to play and we must focus on the Bulgarians," he said. "The game in 1994 was a long time ago, it's a different team and a different situation."
Nigeria plan to field an unchanged team with Amokachi and fellow forward Nwankwo Kanu recovered from injury and illness but expected to remain on the bench. That means Monaco striker Victor Ikpeba, the African Footballer of the Year, will start up front with Mutiu Adepoju of Real Sociedad, with the scorer of last week's winning goal, Sunday Oliseh, Finidi George and Jay-Jay Okocha providing the attacking support. "It's very difficult to change a winning team," said coach Bora Milutinovic.
Bulgaria know that after an opening 0-0 draw against Paraguay, they need a win to stay alive in the evenly matched "Group of Death". They may be comforted by history since Nigeria, after their strong opening win of 1994, lost the next game to Argentina before beating Greece to go through.
The Bulgarians will replace defender Anatoli Nankov, who was sent off against Paraguay, with Kaiserslautern midfielder Marian Hristov, while midfielder Ilian Iliev is doubtful and says he will only play if he feels 100%. Hristo Stoichkov, who has got himself a stylish new haircut for the occasion, will be the front man again as they seek to exploit Nigeria's perceived weakness in defence. Stoichkov is certainly raring to go after a frustrating time against the South Americans, where he received little service but still showed his class in patches.
Emil Kostadinov, scorer of the injury-time goal in the final 1994 World Cup qualifier in Paris, said he hoped the Parc des Princes "brings me and Bulgaria even more happiness". But his desire for a re-run against Nigeria is causing a clash between Bulgaria's coach and captain. Coach Hristo Bonev only sent on Kostadinov after 68 dreary minutes against Paraguay, but captain Trifon Ivanov believes his teammate should have played from the start.
"Emil came on too late," said Ivanov. "He should have been there from the beginning. Without him, we are simply not as good." Ivanov wants Kostadinov to partner Stoichkov today, like he does for CSKA Sofia, but Kostadinov is keeping diplomatic: "Sure I'd like to play, but we'll just have to see what the coach says." Kostadinov has returned home to CSKA via Deportivo La Coruna, Porto, Bayern Munich, Fenerbahce, Mexico's UNAM and Bursapor in Turkey. Stoichkov stopped off in Saudi Arabia to guest in the Asian Club Championships on his way back from Barcelona reserves.
These two, Ivanov, Penev and Krassimir Balakov were all in the team that knocked France out with that last-minute shock in 1993 David Ginola gave the ball away and Penev set up Kostadinov to hit a stunning winner in the very last seconds - which meant Bulgaria made a last-ditch qualification and went all the way to the semi-finals in USA 94.
PROBABLE TEAMS
Nigeria: Peter Rufai; Mobi Oparaku, Taribo West, Uche Okechukwu, Celestine Babayaro; Victor Ikpeba, Sunday Oliseh, Garba Lawal, Jay-Jay Okocha; Mutiu Adepoju, Finidi George.
Bulgaria: Zdravko Zdravkov; Trifon Ivanov, Radostin Kishishev, Ivailo Petkov, Zlatko Yankov, Krassimir Balakov, Marian Hristov, Ivailo Yordanov, Emil Kostadinov, Lyuboslav Penev, Hristo Stoichkov.
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HEAD-TO-HEAD: Okocha v Balakov
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 THE DUEL of the two play-makers who will both be bidding to open the game up from midfield with their undoubted flair. Okocha was fantastic in spells against Spain and his is the sort of talent fans watch matches just to see. He jinks left and right, loves to toy with defenders and can open up any defence with an unpredictable pass.
Balakov is less of a show-boater. He appears to have been far more involved than Okocha in the opening game, but he was less inspirational and did not deliver enough crosses. His attacking play from out wide complements that of Hristo Stoichkov ahead of him and he may just be peaking. At 32, it's his last hurrah at the top and if the Stuttgart star with the kinky afro continues his goalscoring form - five goals in seven qualifiers after an international career where goals were few and far between - he could surprise the rampant Nigerians.
| Okocha | Balakov
| | Minutes On Pitch | 90 | 90
| | Goal Attempts | |
| | Goals | 0 | 0
| | Shots On Target | 1 | 0
| | Shots Off Target | 1 | 2
| | Blocked Shots | 0 | 1
| | Passing | |
| | Goal Assists | 0 | 0
| | Total Passes | 51 | 43
| | Pass Completion % | 78% | 67%
| | Crossing | |
| | Total Crosses | 0 | 11
| | Cross Completion % | 0% | 18%
| | Dribbling | |
| | Dribbles & Runs | 5 | 7
| | Dribble Completion % | 60% | 71%
| | Defending | |
| | Tackles Made | 1 | 9
| | Tackles Won % | 100% | 33%
| | Blocks | 0 | 1
| | Clearances | 1 | 0
| | Interceptions | 1 | 0
| | Discipline | |
| | Fouls | 1 | 1
| | Offside | 0 | 0
| | Yellow Cards | 0 | 0
| | Red Cards | 0 | 0 |
BIG MATCH TRIVIA
Should Nigeria captain Okechukwu be playing in this tournament? He recently became a Turkish citizen to allow his club, Fenerbahce, to sign more foreign players.
Penev missed Bulgaria's run to the USA 94 semi-finals because he was recovering from testicular cancer. His uncle Dimitar coached that side and played in the finals in 1966, 1970 and 1974.
Their only previous meeting was at USA 94, when Nigeria won 3-0 in their first-ever game at the finals. Stoichkov had an early goal disallowed for Bulgaria.
If Kanu returns to the Nigeria side as captain, he'll be the youngest in any World Cup tournament - 21 years, 322 days.
The Nigeria squad is the only one in World Cup history made up entirely of players who do not play in their homeland. Reserve goalkeeper Willy Okpara is the only one who plays in Africa!
A punter bet �100,000 on Bulgaria to beat Paraguay last Friday and came within the width of a goalpost of winning a fortune as Stoichkov hit the post during the 0-0 draw.
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News 6 
