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World Cup qualifying: Sweden beat 10-man Bulgaria 3-0 [Mon Sep 5th, 2005]
Stockholm (Reuters) - Sweden produced a second-half blast to beat Bulgaria 3-0 in their World Cup Group Eight qualifier and stay firmly in the hunt for a place in the finals.
After a goalless first half, the game changed in the 49th minute when Bulgarian midfielder Blagoy Georgiev was sent off for a bad tackle on Arsenal midfielder Fredrik Ljungberg.
The Swedes took full advantage of the extra space, stretching their opponents and scoring three times in the last half hour with all three goals coming as Bulgaria's exhausted central defenders Elin Topuzakov and Valentin Iliev were caught out for pace.
Ljungberg put Sweden ahead with a left-foot shot from 12 metres after a masterful pirouette in the 60th minute, central defender Olof Mellberg headed home in the 75th minute and Juventus striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic added a close-range third in the 90th minute.
The result gives Sweden 18 points from seven games, two points ahead of Croatia, who visit Iceland later on.
"It was absolutely not an easy match," said Sweden coach Lars Lagerback, who felt the first half had been positive in the sense that his team created a lot of scoring chances.
"In the second we were clearly better and stable throughout. After the first goal we just rolled on," he said, pointing out that goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson had made a couple of "decisive" saves.
Bulgaria had two great chances but Isaksson twice denied Martin Petrov in the 34th minute and 71st minutes. Petrov's first attempt was a shot on the run down the left, the second a fiercely curved free kick from 22 metres.
Bulgarian coach Hristo Stoichkov was furious over Belgian referee Frank De Bleeckere's decision to send off Georgiev, collecting one himself for his complaints at the time.
This victory continued a long line of big wins for the Swedes over Bulgaria. They won the reverse qualifying fixture in Sofia 3-0 in March, following a 5-0 win in the group stage of the 2004 European championship and a 4-0 triumph in the 1994 World Cup third place playoff.
"I will pray in December that Sweden will not be in our group," Stoichkov said, referring to the draw for the 2008 European championship.
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