The first-ever meeting between these two sides produced one of the worst internationals ever seen. The only saving grace was that the draw enabled England to progress to the next stage, although after this performance it was difficult to see them go on from there. Neither side showed any urgency to win and although England knew that a draw would be enough, people expected more from them.

On a grey, bitterly cold day, a meagre crowd of less than 6,000 people turned up to watch. After the game those were regarded as the unlucky ones! The Bulgarians defended strongly and in depth from the first whistle and in the first five minutes Jimmy Greaves was twice crowded out on the point of shooting. With 15 minutes gone, England had not played well and, ominously, Ron Springett dropped a right-wing cross from Aleksandar Kostov. Luckily, the ball was cleared and from the breakaway in the 19th minute Greaves was through. He rounded Naidenov as the goalkeeper came out but then hit the post from the tightest of angles.

England were certainly more direct but their passing was once again below par and their was little cohesion within their play. Bobby Charlton gave Greaves another half-chance but it was smothered and then a good move involving Bryan Douglas and Johnny Haynes ended with Greaves offside and so the half finished goalless.

Unfortunately for those watching, the second half proved to be just as uninspiring as the first had been. England created few clear chances and it was Bulgaria who went close with Kolev shooting over on 50 minutes. Haynes replied with a similar effort after a lovely reverse pass by Douglas and the England right winger was always in the thick of the action, despite being remorselessly hounded by Kovachev, who upended him at regular intervals.

With an hour gone good play by Ron Flowers set up Alan Peacock but his header just scraped the wrong side of the post. All of the time there was the danger of England conceding a silly goal and when Aleksandar Kostov headed Kolev's centre over an open goal, they breathed a huge sigh of relief.

In the last third of the game, England's play became more and more ragged and their passing was awful. Bulgaria were no better and both sides seemed content with the goalless scoreline long before the end. Only Charlton's fierce cross relieved the gloom, but it was well reached by Naidenov. The many Argentinians in the crowd barracked both teams as they could see their country's chances of qualifying evaporating in a dire match which, from their point of view, Bulgaria had to win to let Argentina in at England's expense. Judging by their performance, Bulgaria won few friends amongst the South Americans.

England now looked towards Viña del Mar, where they faced the mighty Brazilians.
  

This was without question the most boring, sterile match England had ever contested. They needed only a draw to qualify for the quarter-finals ahead of Argentina, and as Bulgaria showed no inclination to win the match England were content to sit back and make sure they made no mistakes. The result was that the ball hardly left the midfield area and neither goalkeeper was tested. A crowd of barely 6,000 watched the non-event, most of them Argentineans willing the Bulgarians to win, because it would have meant their team progressing through to the quarter-finals. But the Bulgarians did not manage a single serious goal attempt, and England were little better. It did little to raise hopes for the next match against defending world champions Brazil.
  

Source Notes

TheFA.com
Original newspaper reports
Rothman's Yearbooks
Mike Payne's England: The Complete Post-War Record (Breedon Books Publishing Company, Derby, U.K., 1993)
Norman Giller, Football Author
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CG