England vs Bulgaria

Updated: Aug 4, 2023

Hello everybody,

Hope you are all well.

On Saturday 7th September 2019 I attended my second England match at Wembley. It was England vs Bulgaria and was for the Euro Qualifiers.

I went together with my Mum and like last time we pre booked a parking space which wasn't far from the stadium. On the way into the stadium we got the match day program and scarf. We also had to get tags for my bags, which we had to book in before attending the game, Wembley is a bag free stadium. Last time we went to an England game we were very high up so we expected to be in the same place but when we got into the stadium our seats were quite low so we had an amazing view of the pitch.

We went into the disabled toilets and were very disappointed to see there that were no disability adaptions, it may well have been a standard toilet. There were no rails fitted, no hoist and no bed, and they were not in a clean condition. I don't understand how they could call it "disabled" friendly. Very upsetting as it's one of the largest stadiums in the United Kingdom and our national stadium.

Englands qualifiers were going really well so far winning 3 out of 3 games, we hoped that tonight they could make it 4 out of 4.

The game started at 5pm. England started off very strong and were able to create a few chances. These chances lead to corners but they were unable to score until the 18th minute when Harry Kane was able to find the net. The whole stadium erupted but the celebrations were sadly ended promptly after the referee blew his whistle to signify Harry was offside. It was still 0-0. Bulgaria's defence were doing very well to keep our attack at bay but this all this changed when Kane finds the net again in the 24th minute, this time the flag stayed down and the goal was given so it was 1-0 to England. A second goal nearly came when Sterling got through Bulgaria's defence but annoyingly the flag was raised. The atmosphere around Wembley was very tense. Bulgaria didn't back down at all througout the game and gave their all in 90 minutes. Jordan Pickford was first called to action in the 32nd minute after Bulgaria had a shot but he easily collected the ball. England had another shot in the 45th minute after Trippier was able to get the ball into the box for Kane to header but wasn't able to create enough power, so Bulgaria goalkeeper, LLive was able to save it at ease. It was then half time and during this time myself and Mum went into the stadium to get some food. It was a really busy place so there wasn't a lot of space to manoeuvre my chair.

When the second half began Bulgaria got an early attempt on a goal but Pickford was able to make a save. In the 50th minute Rashford showed his fantastic pace before cutting inside and leaving a Bulgarian defender to lunge in and give us a penalty. Harry Kane was our selected penalty taker. He stepped up calmly and sent the keeper the wrong way. It wasn't long before our third goal of the evening was scored but this time it was Raheem Sterling that got on the score sheet, making it 3-0 to England. Every time a goal was scored the atmosphere was amazing as the whole England support celebrated. In the 62nd minute the mexican wave started and like last time it went round the stadium about 50 times and I'm pretty sure the fans were more interested in that then the game at that moment of the match. In the 65th minute Gareth Southgate made his first substitution bringing on Mason Mount in replace for Jordan Henderson. Mason was making his England debut so that must of been a massive achievement for him. Shortly after getting subbed on, Mount was able to get his first shot but wasn't able to score from it - this shows he has confidence to play and this showed throughout his time on the pitch. The second substitute of the game was Jadon Sancho coming on in place of Sterling, Jadon is my personal favourite England player so i was very happy to see him getting minutes. In the 72nd minute england were awarded their second penalty of the match and once again Kane was able to step up and score his third goal to complete his hat-trick. Burgaria had a free kick in the 76th minute when Pickford was called to action but he was able to get a fingertip stop. Our third and final substitute was made in the 78th minute and it was Oxlade-Chamberlain making his first England appearance in 18 months, he came on in place of our Hat-trick hero Harry Kane after he had an amazing game. There was 2 minutes added on at the end of the match. The final piece of action in the game was when Rashford was able to play a one-two with Barkley to get through one-on-one with the Bulgaria keeper who was able to beat away Marcus' dink - Rashford defently deserved a goal due to his work ethic throughout the whole match. Shortly after the ref blew his whistle and the game ended England 4 - Bulgaria.

My man of the match is Harry Kane because he worked hard throughout the game and was able to get a hat-trick to help us win the game.

Getting to the car was slightly hard due to the amount of people but that is expected because of the size of the stadium.