Poland vs Bulgaria Prediction: Bulgarians won't win, but they can hurt the Poles

Poles play at home, so what? A couple of months ago, at the League of Nations home stage in Gdansk, they lost to the Chinese and to the Iranians. In general, Bulgaria has a chance to suffer for a long time.

The Poles have traditionally warmed up before the World Cup at the Wagner Memorial. They played there with Serbia, Argentina, and Iran, i.e., not the last teams, and beat all with the same score of 3-0. However, each of Poland's opponents managed to score 60-plus points.

The Polish squad was so strong that even Bartosz Bednorz had no place in it. Leon is in place, although not everyone in Poland likes that.

Almost everyone is healthy for the Bulgarians, including Sokolov and the young Nikolov. Only Todor Skrimov is not feeling well. Before the World Championships, the Bulgarian national team defeated Canada twice in friendly matches, lost to the Serbs in three-goal games, and played a draw with them once more - it happens in friendly matches.

The last time the Bulgarians lost to the Poles scoring a point was three years ago. And they beat them five years ago. Four years ago, the Poles could not beat the Bulgarians at the previous World Cup. And in the opening match, too, they did not manage to play in three games.

In the last Nations League, the Bulgarian team lost to Poland by only 14 points. In terms of aces, it was 6:2 in favor of Poland, 8:4 in favor of Bulgaria, and 13:10 in favor of Bulgaria in terms of mistakes during the serve. And then Sokolov didn't play.

Of course, the two-time and reigning world champions look the clear favorites in this match, but I think the Bulgarians are quite capable of taking a game or at least fighting hard in three games. I don't expect a blowout, so here's my pick:

• Handicap 2 (+18.5) on points for 1.90;
• W1 and Total Over 3.5 games for 2.62.