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Thursday night could be fateful for the Eurodreams of the two Bulgarian representatives in qualifying for the Europa League groups during this campaign: Ludogorets and CSKA. The Eagles have a not-so-easy visit to Belarus from Dinamo Brest. Pavel Varba’s guys can still feel like light favorites because of the great individual class they have. The eyes of the Bulgarian spectators will perhaps be even more focused on the performances of our other team: CSKA is visiting the famous team from Basel.
Given the reputation of the Swiss team, many would probably say that CSKA comes off as a complete stranger to “St. Jacob Park”. A regular participant in the Champions League and Europa League groups, Basel is a name not only in the small mountainous country, but also a recognizable club throughout European football. The truth, however, is that this is far from the same powerful hegemon as a few years ago.
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The Basel times are not easy. After many years of dominance, the team has not tasted the championship for 3 years, being dethroned by the Young Boys. Last season, things looked even less rosy, after Basel even finished behind modest St. Gallen, only third in the league.
The recognizable names in the composition of the greats are less and less, and much of the core of the team over the last decade is aging. CSKA has nothing to fear, on the contrary: this is a real opportunity for the dream of entering the Europa League.
It’s unclear if a better opportunity will open up for the Reds soon. The draw for the first 3 rounds of the transplants was, to put it mildly, generous to the guys from Stamen Belchev, especially in view of the fact that the team did not play as a guest in any of the matches. The last hurdle will be far from the Bulgarian Army Stadium, but a match in front of the empty stands sets things level again. Last but not least, the format with only one match in each round makes the chance for surprises even higher.
However, Belchev and his players shouldn’t give in to too much excitement and lose sight of the real facts. The team is not infallible and has its obvious weaknesses in defense, despite the indisputable qualities in the offensive part of the game. Individual errors haunt the composition of the “reds” and overshadow the otherwise good elements without the ball: good and aggressive pressure, compactness in its loss and the rapid return of the leather ball. The sinner in many cases turns out to be only one: Jurgen Matej.
The defender is arguably the most disappointing addition to those made over the summer break. Despite his solid physique and height, the Dutchman is extremely unconvincing in the air, does not constantly judge the flight of the ball and is quite clumsy in duels on the ground. Only in the last matches did he make fatal mistakes against Black Sea, Torshavn and Lokomotiv Pd. Too much for a defender who came up with the expectation of the Dutch Eredivisie.
source: Anton Uzunov
It’s this unconvincing charge from the CSKA system that is likely one of the Reds coach’s concerns. For this reason, it seems absolutely natural for Stamen Belchev to propose a more conservative strategy. Less ball possession, more concentration on defense and counterattack. CSKA undoubtedly has artists of a similar style. In the person of Georgi Yomov, Ali Sow and Jules Keita, the Bulgarian team has players who can initiate counterattacks with their individual qualities.
The demon of the Reds is not so scary. It takes faith, and so far under Belchev’s leadership, there seems to be a lot in the team’s locker room. This faith and desire for dedication must be transferred to St. Jacob’s Park, because the possibility of qualifying for the Europa League groups is greater than many think.
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