BULGARIAN footballers, especially those playing for teams abroad, last week gave the impression that they were not very attracted to the idea of playing in friendly matches for the Bulgarian national team.

Several days before the long-planned control game with Albania on April 30 in Sofia, it turned out that for a number of reasons the best Bulgarian players could not play for the Bulgarian team.

"We have problems with injured players, but we still hope that they will recover for the match with Belgium on June 7," said the national team's doctor, Mihail Iliev. Due to injuries, the team's coach Plamen Markov cannot count on goalkeeper Zdravko Zdravkov who plays for the Turkish team Istanbulspor, or on Predrag Pazhin and Zlatomir Zagorich. Centre forward Georgi Chilikov will not play against Albania either.

"Zdravkov had his appendix removed," Iliev said. "There is a minor complication but he will play against Belgium."

According to Iliev, Pazhin, who plays in Ukraine, has a torn ankle tendon, while Zagorich has a lacerated calf muscle. Chilikov has problems with the thigh muscle of his right leg.

The list of players with injuries is completed by Nikolai Krustev from Naftex Bourgas and Martin Petrov from the German team Wolfsburg.

Marian Hristov, who plays for the German team Keizerslautern, refused to play in the match with Albania because he did not feel well prepared after more than one year of not playing. He promised, however, to play in the match against Belgium.

Team captain Krassimir Balakov will not play against Albania either as he was given a second yellow card in the match with Estonia on April 2.