An era ended on Wednesday when Hristo Stoichkov
was substituted to a hero's farewell 16 minutes from
the end of Bulgaria's European qualifying match
against England. Stoichkov, 33, raised his arms in
triumph and blew a farwell kiss to the crowd to mark his
83rd and final appearance in the green and red
Bulgarian strip. <br>After 17 years and 37 goals for his
country, Stoichkov has announced his retirement from the
international arena, although he intends to play on at club
level. He is currently with Kashiwa Reysol in Japan. But
the brilliantly gifted, if volatile player did not
leave without making his mark. He created Bulgaria's
goal with a superbly taken left-foot freekick after 18
minutes which Georgi Markov superbly headed home, and his
dynamic runs deep into the heart of the English defence
appeared to show he had lost little of his pace and power
which were his hallmark in his heyday in the early
1990s at Barcelona. However after the match he said:
``I have played my last match for Bulgaria. I say
good