On 19 June 1998, the second round of The Fifa World Cup Group D in France began, with the first appearance of the nigerian team and Bulgaria team, played at the Parc des Princes in Paris. Four years ago in the United States, the two teams met in the group stage, and the African Eagles laughed to the end.
After a comeback victory over Spain in the first match, Nigeria's performance once again amazed many. Milu fine-tuned the starting line-up for the match, with Amocac replacing Opalac in the starting line-up.
The Bulgarian team's starting and last game were different in three places, except for Nankov's red card missing the match, Jordanov and Penev also watched from the sidelines, and Kostadinov, Kinchev and Kristov were given the opportunity to start.
Nigeria launched an onslaught against the Bulgarian hinterland at the start of the match, and Finidi George's long-range shot tested Zdravkov once.
In the 8th minute of the game, Oliseikh's free-kick came out of the upright, and the Bulgarian fans were shocked into a cold sweat.
In the face of Nigeria's extremely impactful style of play, the Bulgarian team was barely defending while trying to find opportunities to counterattack, but the effect was not satisfactory. The only gain was that in the 20th minute of the game, Hristov caused Adeboyo to foul him.
But it was still coming, and in the 26th minute of the game, Okcha dribbled the ball to the Bulgarian team in the half. The Bulgarian players did not dare to rush to grab it, which gave Okocha enough time and space to observe the ball. Only to see him shove the ball straight into the unguarded Amokach at the top of the arc of the penalty area, who did not stick too much, and directly faced the outside foot to send the ball into the box to Ekpeba. Ivanov rushed forward to block but failed, Ikpeba faced the attacking Zdravkov, calmly poked the outside foot to score, Nigeria took a 1-0 lead.
Two minutes later, Nigeria nearly extended the score, Ekpeba received a pass from his teammate in the penalty area and then got rid of the defensive Kishshev, a poke at the goal, Zdravkov was powerless to return to the sky, fortunately the ball just rubbed the upright.
The 1994 World Cup army is no longer what it used to be, they are almost completely suppressed by the Nigerian team, and the rare opportunity to counterattack is also a hasty thing with a long-range shot. Nigeria's attacking style is much more exciting, and if it were not for the bad luck of Ekpeba, the Bulgarian team's gate would have been breached again.
In the 40th minute of the match, the Bulgarian team won a corner attack opportunity, Stoichkov from outside the box to shoot, but unfortunately his shot was directly confiscated by Rufi without any angle.
After more than a minute, the Bulgarian team almost equalized by Barakov's provocative shot, but unfortunately this foot shot finally brushed the goal, and the Bulgarian team missed the opportunity.
In the 43rd minute of the match, Uche received his second yellow card of the first half for a foul.
The first half of the game also ended after a wave of nigerian attacks failed, and Nigeria temporarily led Bulgaria by a score of 1:0.
At the beginning of the second half, bulgaria replaced Khristov with Bolimilov. The Bulgarian team also quickly launched an offensive attack, and Stoichkov even performed a zero-degree angle attack, but unfortunately there was not much threat.
The Bulgarian team attacked in the early stages of the second half, which affected the mentality of the Nigerian players. Ekpeba had a hard time receiving a pass from his teammate and preparing to launch a counterattack, but he was stuck by Kinchev, and he was embarrassed and angry, and he directly received a yellow card for a foul on Kinchev.
After nearly 20 minutes of the game, the two sides played back and forth well, but the score on the field was not rewritten. In the 64th minute of the match, Illyev received a yellow card for a foul on Finidi George.
Three minutes later Nigeria made their first substitution adjustment, with Kanu replacing Amokach.
Bulgaria followed suit with a substitution adjustment, with Illyev being replaced by Penev.
In the 71st minute of the match, Okocha brought him a yellow card for a ferocious foul, Nigeria's fourth yellow card of the match.
The Bulgarian side won much better, with the exception of Iliyev, who also received a yellow card in the 78th minute of the match. Although the two sides continued to deploy troops after this, nigeria replaced Ekpeba with Yekini and Babangida for Finidi George. Bulgaria replaced Jankov with Bakev, but the score between the two sides was never rewritten, and the 1:0 score was maintained until the end, and Nigeria, who had won two consecutive games, took the lead in the group.