Bulgaria became the second team to qualify for the semi-finals of the 2023 IHF Men's Emerging Nations Championship after winning the second match in a row in the Palace of Culture and Sports in Varna (23:19) against Nigeria, with the African side keeping close throughout the whole 60 minutes in a fiery match.

Group D

• Bulgaria vs Nigeria 23:19 (13:11)

While in the first match against Azerbaijan Bulgaria needed nearly seven minutes to score their first goal but eventually ran away with a 30:19 win, this time around Bulgaria waited for three and a half minutes to score their first goal.

However, Nigeria looked to be a different proposition, a tougher opponent, merely because they had one of the best players in the tournament, right back Faruk Yusuf, who has been plying his trade at Industria Kielce and Fraikin BM. Granollers in the past two years.

Yet the other members of Nigeria's roster were still unproven, inexperienced players, and this is what Bulgaria aimed to capitalise on, especially with a strong start, fueled by an excellent defence and some efficient fast breaks converted by Svetlin Dimitrov, the team's captain and the all-time top goal scorer of the IHF Men's Emerging Nations Championship, who had four goals in the first half, improving his overall tally to 195 goals in the competition.

But Nigeria managed somehow to stay close and exert some pressure on Bulgaria, despite their defensive specialist, Daniel Bello, getting a red card for a professional foul after 19 minutes. And it was Yusuf who really shined on the court for Nigeria, scoring five goals, three coming in quick succession at the end of the first half, to help the African side stay close at the break (13:11).

In the second half, Bulgaria moved Dimitrov to a right back position, aiming to feature more in a playmaking role rather than a scorer one, introducing Vladislav Yorgov on the right wing, who also had an excellent game, scoring four times.

But the main change was in defence, where Bulgaria moved to an aggressive 5-1 defence from a traditional 6-0 one, with either Yusuf or centre back Ibrahim Dikko man-marked to stop them from breaking through to the goal.

Yet the win was not a sure bet for Bulgaria as Nigeria did not allow them to create a lead larger than three goals. Despite having a single goalkeeper, Oladunjoye Babatunde Adamolugbe, in the roster and their attack missing key shots and key chances to score, Nigeria still stayed close and exerted just the right amount of pressure.

However, with only 12 players in the squad, Nigeria started to falter in the latter stages of the game as Bulgaria's goalkeeper, Nikolay Petrov, the Player of the Match, had an excellent match, shining with 13 saves for a 43.3% saving efficiency, including a penalty stopped.

Despite Nigeria's persistence, it was eventually Bulgaria which won the game, 23:19, making it two out of two and sealing the semi-finals spot, following Cuba into the business end of the 2023 IHF Men's Emerging Nations Championship.

After two days of rest, Bulgaria will face Cuba in the semi-finals on Saturday. In contrast, Nigeria face Azerbaijan on Thursday, trying to find their way to the 5/8 Placement Matches, where they will proceed if they do not lose their second game.

Player of the Match: Nikolay Petrov (Bulgaria)