Rangelov Strikes as Bulgaria Earn Latvia Friendly Victory

A goal from Dimitar Rangelov earned Bulgaria a 1-0 friendly win over Latvia in Sofia on Wednesday evening in a dominant team performance.

As both sides warmed up for 2010 World Cup qualifiers in September, Rangelov scored athletically from close range in the 54th minute following a free kick swung into the box by Blagoy Georgiev.

Bulgaria enjoyed most of the possession but star strikers Dimitar Berbatov, Martin Petrov and Valeri Bojinov missed several good opportunitiess to score in the first half.

Latvia's only clear chance came in the 76th minute when defender Vitalijs Astafjevs' powerful volley was saved by goalkeeper Nikolay Mihailov.

Bulgaria now faces Montenegro on September 5 and world champions Italy four days later in Group 8 games that they must win if they hope to reach South Africa 2010.

Bulgaria: Nikolay Mihailov, Plamen Nikolov, Zhivko Milanov, Alexander Tunchev (Kiril Kotev, 46), Stanislav Manolev, Stanislav Angelov, Blagoy Georgiev (Pavel Vidanov, 74), Chavdar Yankov (Georgi Sarmov, 46), Dimitar Berbatov (Dimitar Rangelov, 46), Martin Petrov (Valeri Bojinov, 59), Ivelin Popov (Valeri Domovchiyski, 20).