Bulgaria is such a mess
Libero is non-existent.
I only watched bits of the match (and the highlights later on), so I don't know which of the two liberos you were referring to. The starter, Vladislav Ivanov, who had been left to train with the smaller group while the rest of the team travelled, hadn't played competitive volleyball since the conflict with Konstantinov. He's been without a contract for a year, hence, although he may have been Bulgaria's best libero then, the surprise that he even started. You can't play competitive volleyball immediately when you practically had a year off. No wonder he did poorly and had to be taken out. About his sub, Petar Karakashev. I don't know how he did yesterday, to be honest, but he showed some great defence in previous matches and has potential to develop more.
From the little I saw, it seemed like a very entertaining match. Australia looked more compact due to the time this specific group spent together already. I really liked Dosanjh, a very modern setter. Sokolov should quickly switch to playing rhythm again, it wasn't that long ago when he won all the finals with Lube and seemed in form. Atanasov started the match pretty well but was taken out, perhaps he also needs time. 2 other things I noticed. First, very little interest in Varna. The hall wasn't quite full even for the national team... I hope they sell more tickets at least for the Italy match (don't know what the prices are, to be honest). I hope the attendance in Plovdiv in the last weekend will be better, the men's NT has (almost?, no idea) never played in Plovdiv before. Second, some terrible referee's decisions and wrong video checks... And I didn't watch the entire match.
The only thing I could watch to a certain extent was Portugal's match in Gondomar. Portugal are doing what they can and they did great against a confused Chinese team. Pity because with a normal coach this group of Chinese could've been a more serious threat. Although I still don't see Portugal taking more points than Australia for now, the sympathetic Portuguese played with heart and already left their mark in the competition. And thanks to the commentator, there is something new I learned last night! I had no idea Alex and Marco Ferreira are brothers! Ferreira is a common name in Portugal and I didn't know those two are actually related. Which might, after all, perhaps explain why Marco, the current captain and star player's brother, has been the starting choice over Valdir, for instance, for all these years.
I have to say the journalists here are the dumbest in the world. 
