Discipline among the many goals for Stoichkov

In many ways Hristo Stoichkov, a highly individualistic star player in his day with a questionable line in self-discipline, seems the most unlikely of international coaches but from the day he hung up his boots four years ago there was hardly a Bulgarian who doubted the long-time national idol would some day manage their team.

If there is a surprise involved in the former CSKA and Barcelona star's appointment it is the speed with which it has come about. Stoichkov can hardly have been short of offers to coach clubs back at home but his only training for his new role has come from working with the forwards back at the Nou Camp while he has devoted much of the rest of his time to media work.

Yesterday he looked comfortable as he discussed his new job and his hopes for a team that left Portugal a couple of months back with very little to cheer about. He talked, without a hint of irony, about bringing discipline to the team (he was once suspended for a year for his part in a mass brawl during the Bulgarian cup final and later received a four-month ban for standing on the foot of a referee in Spain) and getting his players to work more effectively for each other on the pitch.

More predictably, perhaps, he suggested the emphasis would be on attack, admitting "the first priority will be to score as early as possible".

Given the side's poor results at Euro 2004 and the subsequent departure of his predecessor, Plamen Markov, it might be assumed Stoichkov's opportunity arose out of a crisis within Bulgarian football but the team's performances against Sweden, Denmark and Italy were actually better than the results would suggest and Markov was offered a new deal after the championship but declined.

Bulgaria's greatest problems in their three games were at the back and it is questionable whether Stoichkov is the man to sort those out, but he has persuaded Charlton's Radostin Kishishev to come out of retirement, which is a step forward. The hope is that he can inspire the rest of a group whose leading players include central midfielders Mariyan Hristov of Wolfsburg and Celtic's Stilian Petrov as well as Dimitar Berbatov up front.

The difficulty, he points out, is that so few of the players available to him play in the better foreign leagues.

"In the '90s, 18, 19 or 22 players were abroad; now it is only 10 or 11. Despite the three defeats at Euro 2004, though, I am convinced that this generation has a bright future."

The players insist they share that view but admit they must start fulfilling their potential on the field.

"We want a good future and feel we can achieve it, but it is not about talk - we need to do something on the pitch to make it come true," says Petrov.

"For the new coach everything is about getting the goal, he wants us always to go out and win the game. I think it will be a good approach for us," he adds as he contemplates a World Cup qualification campaign against Croatia, Sweden, Iceland, Hungary and Malta. "And morale as we come here for this game is a lot higher than when we left Portugal just a few weeks ago."