Sofia, Bulgaria (My Sportsbook) - Bulgaria coach Hristo Stoichkov hopes his team can build on its opening World Cup qualifier win when the squad travels to Croatia on Saturday.

Bulgaria beat Iceland 3-1 on September 4, but Croatia figures to present a stiffer challenge. Croatia leads the group with six points through two matches and is yet to surrender a goal in wins over Hungary and Sweden. However, star Croatian striker Dado Prso is doubtful for Saturday's clash with a sore knee.

Bulgaria will be without Zdravko Lazarov, Marian Hristov and Asen Bukarev due to various injuries. VfL Wolfsburg striker Martin Petrov expects to play against Croatia despite injuring his foot in a Bundesliga match last weekend.

Bulgaria will host Malta on October 13.

The entire Bulgarian side is:

GOALKEEPERS:

Zdravko Zdravkov (Rizespor)

Dimitar Ivankov (Levski Sofia)

DEFENDERS:

Radostin Kishishev (Charlton)

Rosen Kirilov (Litex Lovech)

Ivailo Petkov (Kuban Krasnodar)

Georgi Markov (Levski Sofia)

Ilian Stoyanov (Levski Sofia)

Elin Topuzakov (Levski Sofia)

MIDFIELDERS:

Chavdar Yankov (Slavia Sofia)

Stilian Petrov (Celtic)

Emil Gargorov (CSKA Sofia)

Dimitar Telkiiski (Levski Sofia)

Hristo Yanev (CSKA Sofia)

Ivan Paskov (Lokomotiv Plovdiv)

Blagoi Georgiev (Slavia Sofia)

FORWARDS:

Dimitar Berbatov (Bayer Leverkusen)

Martin Kamburov (Lokomotiv Plovdiv)

Martin Petrov (VfL Wolfsburg)

Valeri Bojinov (Lecce)

Vladimir Manchev (Levante)

Stoiko Sakaliev (CSKA Sofia)