BULGARIA v CYPRUS:BULGARIA AND Cyprus head into their match in Sofia locked on four points each, and knowing a victory, coupled with an Ireland defeat, could put them within four points of a play-off place with a game in hand.

Bulgaria coach Stanimir Stoilov admits it is now win or bust for his team, who had been expected to provide the main challenge to Italy in the group – not least by coach Marcello Lippi, who saw them as a more dangerous proposition than Ireland before the group commenced last year.

“It is obligatory for us to win the game with Cyprus. We are aware that it won’t be easy at all, by we don’t have an alternative,” he said.

“All depends on us. It doesn’t matter how Italy and Ireland will end up on Wednesday, because if we win the matches we remain in the game.”

Bulgarian goalkeeper Georgi Petkov, who suffered a stomach muscle injury before the match in Dublin, and full back Zhivko Milanov have both been ruled out, with veteran Radostin Kishishev likely to replace Milanov, while Manchester City striker Valeri Bojinov could return to contention, though he will probably start on the bench.

Angelos Anastasiadis’ Cypriot team showed all their quality on the first group game when they hosted Italy, completely outclassed the reigning World Champions and were very unlucky not to get anything out of that game.

They continued with good performances and took one point from the next two away games, before beating Georgia at home last weekend.

They showed they could be very dangerous on the counterattack and that is something they will try to repeat in Bulgaria. The visitors will adopt a defensive approach but they will look to exploit the space Bulgaria will leave behind.