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Published: April 23, 1998

A younger Bulgaria scored its first win of the year with this 2-1 win over fellow World Cup Finalists in Sofia.

The much criticised Lyuboslav Penev scored the first goal after he was fouled in the penalty area and converted from the spot himself after only ten minutes. Penev is the son of former national team coach Dimitar and he was the subject of disputes in the volatile squad over favouritism from his father. This led to a severe dip in form but last night looked back to his best with strong front running and good control.

From the shadows of the absent Balakov and Stoichkov also emerged Stoichko Stoilov who claimed the second goal with a header from close range past goalkeeper Driss Benzaki after Ilian Iliev had struck an accurate freekick to him and Benzaki stayed on his line, failing to meet the ball.

Bulgaria moved the ball well throughout and were obviously given confidence by the early penalty. Their play has been very inconsistent of late as they have fielded olderc players waiting to return to their previous form and failing to make it. The injection of some youth and enthusiasm did the trick against a team that so severely disappointed coach Henri Michel that he absented himself from post-match interviews with the press. Morocco had peformed poorly and were no threat to the Bulgarian defence throughout. Most of their attacks failed to make it past the tackles in midfield and they were harmed greatly by the absence of star midfielder Mustapha Hadji to give them some drive and impetus from the middle of the field. Morocco failed to find cover for their star man but it remains to be seen whether Bulgaria have got cover for theirs.