| Venue: Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia Date: Wed, 14 Oct Kick-off: 19:45 BST |
| Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru, live text coverage and match report on BBC Sport website |
Unbeaten Wales face a “juggling” act to cope with fixture congestion as they aim to strengthen their hold on top spot in Nations League Group B4 when they visit Bulgaria on Wednesday.
As the match in Sofia is Wales’ third in six days, manager Ryan Giggs has to contend with injuries and suspensions as he looks to rotate his squad.
“I’m expecting a tough game but we’re up for the challenge,” said Giggs.
“It’s not easy [playing three games in six days] – a lot of juggling with players, making sure they’ve had enough minutes but also that they’re still sharp.
“We need more quality and composure in the final third and more shots on goal, and hopefully we’ll see that in Bulgaria.
“If we’re not on it, it will be a tough game, so we need to be on it and the players know that.”
Giggs has been happy with Wales’ results in this Nations League but less impressed with the standard of his side’s performances.
They needed late goals to snatch 1-0 wins against Finland and Bulgaria last month, while they barely threatened in Thursday’s friendly loss to England or against a depleted Irish side during Sunday’s goalless draw.
Wales’ attacking potential will be impacted in Sofia by the absence of injured midfielders Aaron Ramsey and David Brooks, plus striker Kieffer Moore – who is suspended after picking up his second booking of the campaign in Dublin.
The Cardiff City target man has become an important first-team player in his nine international appearances and, with Hal Robson-Kanu also unavailable after breaking his arm, Wales do not have any out-and-out centre-forwards to call on against bottom side Bulgaria.
“We’ll have to change our approach, how we play, but that’s always been in my mind anyway if Kieffer isn’t available,” said Giggs.
“The blow to us this time is that Hal Robson-Kanu broke his arm, and he played really well against Bulgaria last time.
“It will be a different way of playing but hopefully we’ll be OK.”
Moore’s unavailability could lead to a start for Leeds’ versatile 21-year-old forward Tyler Roberts.
“He can play a variety of different positions, for Leeds he has played as a number 10, played out wide, up front, out wide for me,” Giggs added.
“It is up to us to make sure we get the best out of him and we need to be better on the ball and show more composure and Tyler is one of the players who can produce a goal or assist.”
Team news
As well as Moore, Wales will be without Joe Morrell because of suspension after the Bristol City midfielder also received his second yellow card of the campaign during the draw against the Republic of Ireland.
The Football Association of Wales did not specify the nature of the problem when it tweeted confirmation of Bournemouth midfielder Brook’s withdrawal on Monday, or the subsequent news on Tuesday that Juventus star Ramsey is also out injured.
Centre-back Chris Mepham has travelled to Bulgaria and is in contention to play as he recovers from a knee injury.
The 22-year-old Bournemouth defender missed the goalless draw in Dublin after suffering his injury in Wales’ 3-0 defeat against England last week.
Having been beaten by Hungary in a Euro 2020 play-off, Bulgaria made eight changes for the 2-0 Nations League defeat by Finland last time out, and manager Georgi Dermendzhiev could rotate his squad again for this game.
Dimitar Velkovski and Bozhidar Kraev came on as substitutes against Finland and could be in contention to start against Wales.
Match facts
- This will be the 10th meeting between Wales and Bulgaria. In the previous nine encounters, there have been four wins apiece and one draw.
- Wales are the only team in the top two tiers of the Nations League yet to have conceded a goal in this campaign.
- Bulgaria are 60th in the Fifa world rankings, 39 places lower than Wales in 21st.
- Wayne Hennessey became Wales’ most capped goalkeeper in Sunday’s goalless draw against the Republic of Ireland, making his 93rd appearance to move one clear of previous record holder Neville Southall.
- Sunday’s clean sheet was Wales’ fifth in succession in competitive matches – their longest sequence of clean sheets since September 2015. They have not kept six consecutively since a run of seven between June 1980 and May 1981.
- Wales are unbeaten in their past eight competitive matches.
- Bulgaria have won only one of their past 18 fixtures in all competitions.
- Wales have failed to score in each of their past two matches – they haven’t gone three without scoring since a run of four between February and September 2012.
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
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