That’s it for tonight’s blog. An unpleasant night, no doubt, but hopefully a seismic one. After decades of lip service and painfully slow change, a precedent was set when the game was stopped twice and almost abandoned. Thanks for your company and emails, goodnight.
And here’s Gareth Southgate
“I have to say that the Uefa officials were onto everything very quickly. We reported everything immediately when we heard things; we had constant communication with the fourth official and the referee. I was in contact with the players all the way through the first half in particular, and then again at half-time.
“We know it’s an unacceptable situation. I think we’ve managed to make two statements – by winning the game, and by raising awareness of the situation. The game was stopped twice. I know for some people that won’t be enough, but as a group we were on board with that process.”
Here’s Tyrone Mings
“It was a great occasion; I made my England debut. Slightly overshadowed by a few disappointing chants, which could be clearly heard on the pitch, but we showed a great response and ultimately we let the football do the talking.
“I think the protocol was effective, and there was less chanting after that. We made a decision at half-time to come out and play the game, which we thought was the right thing to do.”
We’ll have plenty of reaction to the match as the evening progresses. For now, here’s our chief football correspondent David Hytner’s report.
Greg Clarke, the FA chairman, is speaking on ITV
“I was up in the stands with some of the FA staff. We heard some sounds which sounded like monkey chants. We had a pre-agreement with Gareth that I would come down if the game was interrupted. I heard some more chants and saw some activity which was appalling. I wouldn’t want to describe it but it was appalling, and I had a chat with Gareth at half-time.
“We were told by the officials that 500 people in the corner who caused a lot of touble has been thrown out at half-time. They said that after that there were isolated examples of racist behaviour, not massed examples, and the protocol deals with massed examples of racist behaviour. They’ll have to collect more information from live footage of the game.
“I’m happy that Gareth was in control from our side. He got the players together when the first incident happened. Then, when the second incident happened the referee said, ‘Do you want to carry on?’ He said, ‘There are only four minutes to half-time, let’s get to the break and review it.’ He sat down with the players; they wanted to get out there and play. And I think – and this is only my opinion – there was less racism and chanting in the second half. Any of it is appalling. I spoke to Gareth at the end and he felt they made the right decision to end the game.
“I would like to see a very stringent review by Uefa. I know they take racism very, very seriously. If we say we’ve got zero tolerance for racism, then one person making money chants is the same as a hundred. To be perfectly frank, we also need to address racism in England. We have it throughout the pyramid. We shouldn’t take the moral high ground; we should join a movement to drive it out of the game.
“Uefa are going to have to think very carefully about the level of abuse they are willing to let players tolerate, and they are going to have to make an example of somebody one day. We have to be so proud of our team and our backroom staff, who stood shoulder to shoulder in the face of abject racism and showed they were stronger than racism.”
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“I admire the determination of English footballers to fight racism, but racism happens here in the UK too,” says Jose Rodriguez. “I am a Spanish citizen living and working in the UK for a number of years, and recently my neighbour next door told me I should show some respect as I come to this country to work. So I am a second-class citizen. Why not British look inside too before erecting themselves as the savours of the world...”
I honestly don’t think that’s the case. Racism is still a huge problem in Britain; everyone knows that.
ITV have just shown footage of Raheem Sterling being abused throughout the second half. I can understand the reluctance to call the game off, but it probably should have been in accordance with the protocol. It sounds like Uefa only got involved if an England player complained, which isn’t great.
Ian Wright, speaking on ITV, says this is a “fantastic moment, a seminal moment ... what’s good about it is that this is a generation of players and people now - not just black players - who won’t tolerate this any more. My generation was a generation of turn the other cheek, Martin Luther King. This is the by-any-means-necessary generation; the Malcolm X generation. They don’t need to take it any more. I feel really good watching this. I played so many games like this where people said, ‘Just beat them on the pitch.’ It doesn’t do anything. Today, they’ve won.”
Full time: Bulgaria 0-6 England
Callum Wilson hits the post with the last kick of the match. The final whistle is greeted by loud boos. But at least we heard the final whistle, which seemed unlikely when the game was halted twice in the first half because of racist abuse.
90 min Two minutes of added time. Sancho almost makes it 7-0 with a low shot that is saved by Iliev. He was played in by a terrific pass from Callum Wilson.
87 min “Would you say that having Maddison in the hole behind Kane, Rashford, and Sterling is a bit of a gamble?” harhars Matt Gray.
86 min Mount’s long-range shot is beaten away by Iliev. England could have scored 10 tonight. Moments earlier, Zanev plunged his stats into the back of Sancho’s leg. He should have been sent off for that.
GOAL! Bulgaria 0-6 England (Kane 85)
Harry Kane makes a goal for ... Harry Kane, just as Ben Culling predicted a few minutes ago. Kane slipped the ball through the legs of the last man Terziev, ran through and sidefooted the ball past Iliev.
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84 min “England game halted ... and continued,” says Stephen Morris. “But never let reality get in the way of a headline.”
Thank goodness someone has finally had the courage to highlight the big issue of the night.
83 min Kane drives a low shot off the outside of the post.
82 min “Unfortunately our number 9 is also our best number 10,” says Ben Culling. “The only way Kane will score tonight is by passing to himself. If it was the nineties you’d pair Kane with a whippet like Rashford and they’d be a whole heap of fun.”
His evolution as a player, for richer and poorer, is really interesting. I’d love to see him in the same team as Maddison, with Sterling and Rashford as wide forwards.
78 min It looks like game is going to finish, which looked very unlikely at half-time.
77 min Thanks for all your emails, most of which I haven’t had chance to read yet. In the strangest possible way, this is the kind of match you can’t take your eyes off.
76 min Marcus Rashford, who scored the opening goal and played well in what has become his best position on the left, is replaced by Callum Wilson. Bulgaria bring on Kristiyan Malinov for Wanderson.
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75 min “I’ve noticed that a lot of the commentary and punditry around the issue of racism in football and stadiums focuses on the idea of ‘bad individuals’ and ‘rotten eggs’,” says Mukseet Bashir. “And while that’s true, the reality is that these people are a reflection of a society that emboldens and enables them to exist. It’s important to deal to these issues (whether that be walking off, or abandoning games, or whatever the solution might be), I think it’s important to acknowledge that these issues don’t exist in a vacuum; they’re simply a visceral and confronting reflection of broader systemic racism. Unless we as a society work to improve the systemic and historic issues around race, this kind of bigotry will always exist.”
Yes, that’s a fair point. And I suppose there are plenty of precedents to show what can be achieved over time. I do think things are improving, however slowly. Had this happened a decade ago, I doubt anything would have been said until after the game. Then again, some of the most important people in the world are racists who don’t even realise they’re racist, which must be doing untold damage.
73 min A double change for England: Mason Mount and Jadon Sancho replace Ross Barkley and the inspirational Raheem Sterling.
GOAL! Bulgaria 0-5 England (Sterling 68)
England score five goals for the fourth time in their Euro 2020 qualification campaign. Kane slides a nice pass through to Sterling, who finishes with precision. Harry Kane’s through passing, both tonight and against the Czech Republic, has been devastating.
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69 min A Bulgaria change: Isa off, Ivanov on.
67 min “This is surreal, in the worst possible way,” says Guy Hornsby. “While it’s good to see this called out and exposed so clearly, in prime time, it’s still staggering to actually see unfold. I remember the 80s, and I’ve heard some awful stuff in grounds, but this is another level. Hardly seems real to have it so visible. You have to admire these guys for even being able to string a few passes together. I can’t even imagine. The football just seems like a strange footnote.”
It’s despicable, but let’s be honest – it was even worse in the 1970s and 1980s. Ian Wright did a brilliant documentary on ITV4 last year, Out of Their Skin, which is worth watching if you can find it. And Dave Hill’s book on John Barnes, Out of His Skin, is even more startling.
63 min Iliev saves from Kane’s close-range strike. England could have doubled their 4-0 half-time lead.
62 min Clive Tyldesley, the ITV commentator, reports that there has been more racist abuse since half-time, and some Uefa officials have convened on the touchline.
61 min “Abandoning the game achieves nothing,” says John Potter. “The idiots almost get what they want, and move in somewhere else. And what about the fans of the non-abusive team. A trip across Europe for half a game. Never gonna work.”
I agree it’s not ideal, but I can’t think of any better ideas.
60 min Zanev’s low long-range shot is well claimed by the unsighted Pickford.
60 min Maguire fouls Isa, who briefly looks interested in continuing the argument. He calms down soon enough.
58 min England could have had three or four goals since half-time. Sterling has just missed another chance, hitting a low shot that was kicked away by Iliev.
56 min “I’m finding the complaints a bit surreal,” says JJ. “If Rangers were playing Arsenal in the Europa League, Jermain Defoe would be getting booed for every touch he took, and it wouldn’t be racism; it’d be because he used to play for Spurs. Are the jeers now for Rashford and Sterling racist in nature? If not, then they’re just jeers. If they are the only players being jeered and the only two black players on the field, you can be mighty suspicious, but can’t make the conclusion that it’s because of racism. That said, I hope that this game gets closed out, and racists of both countries can just eff off away from football stadiums.”
The monkey chants and Nazi salutes arguably gave the game away.
54 min It’s Kosovo 2-0 Montenegro in the other game, so England probably won’t be confirming their place at Euro 2020 tonight.
53 min “Not being perfect in terms of England having its own fair share of racists means you need to be diplomatic but not silent when calling out racism perpetrated by other countries’ fans,” says Niall Mullen. “Southgate has walked this line extremely well. Nonetheless this needs to be managed dispassionately by UEFA and, where necessary, the justice system. Otherwise the ‘they started it’ shouty tribalism of football drowns out all sensible discourse.”
That’s an excellent point, which became an issue – through no real fault of Southgate’s – before the game.
52 min “What I find truly unbelievable, in light of the Bulgarian FA’s defence of their fans ahead of the match, is that a load of right wing ‘ultra’ types were allowed in with ‘No Respect’ written on their group’s hoodies,” says Andrew Chappell. “What were the stadium officials thinking?”
Probably that they’d like to see their children again.
51 min Rashford has a close-range shot blocked by Iliev, and Sterling shoves the rebound wide. He probably should have scored. England have played some terrific football tonight.
48 min Kane’s shot is saved by Iliev.
47 min You start to wonder whether you’re imagining it, but I am almost certain Sterling is being jeered (and, presumably, the rest) every time he touches the ball.
46 min England bgegin the second half, and Raheem Sterling is immediately booed.
The players are back on the field. Popov is having a long chat with the referee. Bulgaria have made a substitution, but I don’t care.
Gareth Southgate has been talking to Uefa officials at half-time. Ivelin Popov, the Bulgaria captain, has spent the interval appealing to the home fans. A number of the extremists left the ground after around half an hour, but there was still plenty of abuse after that. I’d be surprised if the match is completed.
More thoughts “Whilst I completely agree with your statement ‘eat that you racist tossers’ (I cheered a little cheer when Sterling scored) the double standards in condemning racism from other countries annoys me no end,” says Kate in Durham. “We are by no means perfect in England, and whilst we may have moved on from the darker days in football, in recent weeks there have been racist incidents making the national news at Hartlepool and Middlesbrough matches. Away from football we are even worse. So let’s not get all holier than thou eh, and get our own house/country in order.”
Yes, that’s fair. I can’t get my head round it. ITV are showing some footage from the crowd – Nazi salutes, jumpers with ‘Uefa Mafia: No Respect’, monkey chants. All the classics. It’s beyond despicable.
Half-time chit chat “I know that England can’t exactly take the high ground when it comes to idiotic fans, but it’s so damn frustrating that football can attract such morons,” says Matt Dony. “It can be such a wonderful, life-affirming thing to be in a stadium cheering on ‘your’ team (I’m happy to admit to welling up during YNWA), and it can genuinely be a thing of beauty to watch elite athletes giving their best. I’m not the first to make the point that football can bring people together, and I certainly won’t be the last. So how dare these idiots ruin something we love. I’ve sent so many silly emails to MBMs, but this is easily the angriest/most exasperated missive I’ve fired off. I haven’t got a solution; I’m not clever enough to suggest anything. But something, something has to happen.”
Abandon the game and award it to the other team. It’s not ideal, but it’s a start. And progress is being made, even if it is taking longer than everyone would like.
Half time: Bulgaria 0-4 England
That’s the end of a surreal, dispiriting 45 minutes. England played well and scored four excellent goals, but the match was stopped twice because of racist abuse. One more stoppage and it should be abandoned, although I wouldn’t rule out it being called off during the interval.
GOAL! Bulgaria 0-4 England (Sterling 45+4)
Eat that, you racist tossers. Harry Kane, the assist king, gives an open goal to Raheem Sterling at the end of another nice team move.
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45+1 min The game has resumed, but Sterling is being booed again. There are six added minutes to be played.
44 min: The match has been stopped for the second time. A number of the home fans are apparently walking out of the stadium. I have no idea what is going on.
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43 min: The referee is going to the touchline to talk to the fourth official and Gareth Southgate.
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42 min Gareth Southgate has made a second complaint to the fourth official about racist abuse.
40 min “I don’t want to plant ideas in mostly empty heads,” says Shane O’Leary, “but the Uefa protocol sounds like an invitation for any racists watching their team lose to get busy with the racist guff?”
Surely they lose the game anyway if it’s abandoned?
38 min Most of the England players are being booed now, although I’m pretty sure Mings, Rashford and especially Sterling are being jeered the most. For now, however, the match is proceeding as normal. I wouldn’t put money on it finishing, though.
37 min Sterling appeals unsuccessfully for a penalty after being humped in the back by Hadzhiev. That could easily have been given.
35 min It has been confirmed that the England players reported racist abuse earlier in the game. This, by the way, is the standard Uefa announcement in such circumstances:
Attention. This is an important security announcement. Because of racist behaviour the referee has said he may have to suspend the match. Racism in football stadiums will not be tolerated.
34 min “Here’s my point as clearly as I can make it – success against internationals secures a player against failure,” says Hubert O’Hearn. “If a midfielder has had good, solid matches against a De Bruyne, Fabinho, or pick your favourite, he then has a base layer of confidence so that if he does have a rough match in future he can fall back on the belief that it was just a rough match, and not his true level. And look at Theo Walcott. Any time we see his name, our first thought is, ‘Oh right, the player Sven called up too soon.’ How many Jack Wilsheres have been tossed out the window after being cast as ‘the next Gazza?’ What marks a great international isn’t how he fits into a winner – that’s easy – it’s how he bounces back from losing and becomes a winner. A failing performance too early in a player’s career makes that harder.”
I take the point, I just don’t agree. But I still love you.
GOAL! Bulgaria 0-3 England (Barkley 32)
Ross Barkley gets his second goal with a deft header from Harry Kane’s right-wing cross. Kane has become quite the creator in recent times.
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31 min The announcement was step one of Uefa’s protocol for dealing with racist chants. The second is another appeal over the PA system; if that fails, the referee should abandon the match.
30 min The match has resumed, for now. I don’t really know what to say.
29 min The referee is still talking to Harry Kane. There are home fans, some of them in balaclavas, flicking V signs in the direction of the pitch. I don’t think this match is going to continue.
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27 min: The match has been stopped, almost certainly because of racist abuse. The referee has been spoken to by an official on the touchline. He’s now talking to Harry Kane. I thought I heard Sterling and Rashford being booed right at the start of the game, but when nobody else said anything I assumed it was my imagination.
There is now an announcement over the tannoy, which is also being booed. This, I fear, is about to get very serious.
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25 min Zanev has a hack at Sterling, for which he probably should have been booked.
23 min “Worth a mention of England’s most recent qualifying opponent losing 3-2 to Northern Ireland tonight..?” says Iain Gamble. “It’s only a friendly, but you know...”
They just had a bad night on Friday. It happens. Even John Gregory’s Aston Villa occasionally lost a game.
The goal was made by Sterling, who quickened the pace with a run infield from the right. He played a neat one-two on the edge of the area with Kane - who has been England’s most penetrative passer in recent games - and drove the ball across the face to give Barkley an open goal. At first I thought it was offside, but on reflection I think Barkley was behind Sterling when the ball was played. There’s no VAR. I’m also not sure whether Sterling was trying to shoot or cross the ball to Barkley. Who cares.
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GOAL! Bulgaria 0-2 England (Barkley 20)
Ross Barkley ends a lovely team move to double England’s lead.
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18 min Bulgaria are looking reasonably dangerous on the counter-attack. Most of the game is taking place in their half, as you’d expect.
17 min “Something we can agree on, is good on Rashford,” says Hubert O’Hearn. “I was delighted to see him chosen to start tonight. He and Ross Barkley have something in common: their performances for England are way, way above their club performances. I don’t know why and don’t care, but Marcus Rashford would be a permanent fixture on my best XI every time out.”
I can’t work Rashford out. He’s a completely different player from the one who emerged in 2016. But aye, good on him; at his best he’s a cracking footballer.
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14 min England are in control, despite that Popov shot a few minutes ago. In the other group game, Kosovo lead Macedonia 1-0. If it stays like that, England can’t qualify tonight. I think it’s time to ask the difficult question: has Gareth Southgate taken this team as far as he can?
12 min “Losing was good for England,” says Steve Waterhouse. “GS needed to be reminded that he cannot pick players willy-nilly based on what’s happened in the last two weeks. There has to be a slightly more holistic approach than that.”
Nothing should ever be done willy-nilly, apart from using the phrase ‘willy-nilly’.
11 min Pickford makes an excellent save, getting down very smartly to his left to push away Popov’s deflected shot.
That was a spectacular goal from Rashford. He ran down the wing before losing Pashov with a nice Cruyff turn on the left edge of the box. Then, from a tight angle, he smashed a rising shot that went through Iliev and into the net. Iliev might have done better, on reflection, but it was a vicious strike.
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GOAL! Bulgaria 0-1 England (Rashford 7)
As I was saying. This is a storming goal from Marcus Rashford.
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6 min It’s been a slow and largely tedious start. Nothing to report apart from that Henderson booking.
3 min Henderson overruns the ball and ploughs through Hadzhiev. He’s booked and will miss England’s next qualifier, against Montenegro next month. I think he slipped, which made it look a bit worse, but he’d already committed to a tackle he was never going to win.
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2 min Bulgaria have started in a 5-4-1 formation, not the 4-1-4-1 we expected. Aiming high.
1 min Peep peep! Bulgaria kick off from right to left. They are in white; England are in red.
The ground is at least half empty, but there are thousands of England fans belting out God Save The Queen with feeling.
“Pougatch ought to pull Keane up,” says Bill Hargreaves, “next time he drops one of those.”
Either that or Keane should do this the next time Ross Barkley’s name comes up.
“I see your point and as always treat it with true respect,” says Hubert O’Hearn. “However, if I may offer up a soupcon of rebuttal served with a massive side dish of self-recrimination, if nine touches in a half followed by a benching really aids development, by that record I should have been named captain of Canada’s national men’s team. Mind you, there’s still hope as Canada 2019 makes Scotland 2019 look like Brazil 1970. No wonder I emigrated.”
I don’t really understand the logic, to be honest. It’s not just the nine touches, it’s everything - the build-up, the nerves, the alien environment, the movement on and off the ball. He’s a better player now than he was on Friday morning.
Punditry department
Mark Pougatch “Where you would play Ross Barkley? What’s his best position?”
Roy Keane “Probably on the bench.”
“I’m glad Southgate has chosen what I think is his best XI,” says Hubert O’Hearn. “Please, no insult is intended towards Mason Mount – zero percent – and I’m all for giving youth a chance, but we have to stop giving caps to all lads who have a run of three good matches in their first year in the top division. I’d frankly make it a rule that a player has to have played all the top six (or five if the player is on a top six side) at least once, just to see how he operates against teams brimming with full internationals. Make sense?”
I don’t really agree with that. For one, he’ll have had tougher games with Derby than he will with England. I know what you mean about getting too giddy about young players – Theo Walcott going to Germany, for example – but I don’t think Southgate has been guilty of that. And experiences like Friday, in what was a can-afford-to-lose game, will accelerate Mount’s development. My opinions are not those of Guardian Media Group, etc, etc.
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Trent Alexander Bruyne “Southgate has made how many changes and he still can’t find room for Trent Alexander-Arnold?” sniffs Philip Riston. “Makes no sense to me.”
I’d probably play Alexander-Arnold but there’s very little between him, Trippier, Walker and Wan-Bissaka. England don’t cross the ball as much as Liverpool either, and that’s his biggest strength. That said, he had an absurdly good game against Switzerland in the summer. I can see all sides!
Pre-match reading/listening
Team news
Gareth Southgate sticks with a back four, but he does make five changes from the team that lost to the Czech Republic. Tyrone Mings makes his debut, replacing Michael Keane in central defence. Ben Chilwell is in for the suspended Danny Rose, while Harry Winks, Ross Barkley and Marcus Rashford replace Declan Rice, Mason Mount and Jadon Sancho respectively.
Bulgaria (4-1-4-1) Iliev; Pashov, Terziev, Hadzhiev, Zanev; Despodov; Popov, Sarmov, Kostadinov, Wanderson; Isa.
Substitutes: G Ivanov, Mihaylov, Lozev, Dimitrov, Slavchev, Kraev, Nedyalkov, Malinov, Marcelinho, H Ivanov, Goranov, Karagaren.
England (4-1-2-3) Pickford; Trippier, Maguire, Mings, Chilwell; Winks; J Henderson, Barkley; Sterling, Kane, Rashford.
Substitutes: Pope, D Henderson, Alexander-Arnold, Keane, Gomez, Rice, Sancho, Tomori, Abraham, Mount, Wilson.
Referee Ivan Bebek (Croatia)
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Preamble
Hello. Shall we try that one again? England were supposed to clinch their place at Euro 2020 in the Czech Republic on Friday night; instead they suffered a defeat that was somewhere between irritating and alarming. It won’t affect their eventual qualification, but it has altered expectations of what they might achieve next summer. The Three Lionsometer, with It’s Coming Home! at one end and Send Them Home! at the other, has plenty of zinging to do before the tournament begins next June.
England have defended shoddily in the last two matches, and something hasn’t quite felt right. We can’t say it’s inertia, because Gareth Southgate has changed the personnel and tactics since the World Cup. Tonight, Matthew, he may revert to the back three that served England pretty well in Russia.
Their opponents, Bulgaria, are not the biggest threat. Their last victory was a year ago yesterday, at home to Cyprus, and there are no modern equivalents of Hristo Stoichkov or Georgi Asparuhov in their side. There’s barely a modern equivalent of Boncho Genchev. Bulgaria’s best player is probably Dimitar Berbatov, and he retired from all football last month.
England will officially qualify for Euro 2020 if they win and Kosovo fail to win at home to Montenegro. But they know qualification is ahappenin, if not this month then next. It doesn’t matter what happens in Kosovo. What England really want tonight is a win, a clean sheet and no sightings of the Keystone Cops.
Kick off is at 7.45pm.
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