Icelandic rally floors Bulgaria
Tuesday, September 6, 2005
Article summary
Bulgaria 1-3 Iceland Iceland recorded a third Group 7 victory as they came from behind to defeat ten-man Bulgaria in Sofia.
Article body
Marching orders
In the first half, Bulgaria seemed to show more spirit with Valeri Domovchiyski coming close to opening the scoring. However, the game was to turn against the home team as PFC Levski Sofia youngster Domovchiyski was shown a second yellow card just before the interval.
Bulgaria ahead
Despite that setback, Bulgaria made a bright start to the second half, with Dimitar Rangelov and Bogomil Dyakov missing good chances before Rangelov's 59th-minute free-kick gave Petar Miladinov's men the lead. However, that goal was to prompt a dramatic Icelandic revival.
Icelandic fightback
Ten minutes after Rangelov's opener, Pálmi Rafn Pálmasson equalised for the visitors, and within 120 seconds they were ahead as Emil Halfredsson punished a mistake in the Bulgaria defence. As Bulgaria pushed for an equaliser in added time, having been reduced to nine men when Rangelov was stretchered off, Helgi Magnússon scored Iceland's third.