Spain vs. Saudi Arabia

by Golden Goal | June 22, 2006 at 09:26 pm

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Spain are already through to the next round of the World Cup, but may want to secure their top spot with a good result against Saudi Arabia, who have a small chance to qualify themselves. The Saudis will need a win over the Spanish, and then depend on the match between Ukraine and Tunisia.

Golden Goal reporting:

Another Monday starts and
another week of World Cup action kicks off. The tournament is really
heating up as teams are fighting for their the final spots and a shot
at glory. However, there is much to be decided in this final set of
action before the knock out rounds begin.

Over the weekend,

Saturday: Portugal 2 - Iran 0

Czech Republic 0 - Ghana 2

Italy 1 - USA 1

Sunday: Japan 0 - Croatia 0

Brazil 2 - Australia 0

France 1 - South Korea 1

Monday: The first game on Monday witnessed Switzerland
finishing strong with a 2- 0 win over Togo. Togo will be sent home, but
they have played well and should be a bit disappointed, but also proud
of their run at the World Cup this year. While the Swiss will be moving
on to the next round with one game left to play...

The Ukrainians had had a tough time after losing their opening game by four goals, and
the papers at home were not at all kind to this team, calling them all
kinds of dis-heartening names. So it was not suprising that this team
came out blazing, scoring four goals of their own, showing their
critics a thing or two about football, and possibly securing a spot in
the next round: Saudi Arabia 0 - Ukraine 4

It had appeared that Tunisia would be playing the role of the
upset kid yesterday. However it was Spain who returned in the second
half to play a complete game. Once they got the scoring ball rolling it
was all over for Tunisia as the Spanish team was lead by El nino
(Torres), and secured the number one spot in the next Round of 16: Spain 3 - Tunisia 1

Update:

Germany was filled to the brim with celebration last night.
The streets were alive with excitement, which provided a great party
atmosphere as Germany secured the number one spot for the round of
sixteen. It was a bit suprising that Ecuador did not really show up
after playing so well in the opening two games. But they will be
advancing as well, and they will need to put this game past them and
prepare for the elimination round where there is no recovery from a 3-0 loss...

England will also be advancing with Sweden in their group. England just needed to
win or tie to advance as the number one team in this group, and they have gotten their wish as they tied Sweden 2-2 in an exciting action packed game. Both teams will now advance to round of sixteen while their counter parts Trinidad and Paraguay will be heading home after solid performances. Paraguay beat Trinidad 2-1 in their final match...

Wednesday:

Angola was unable to advance as they tied with Iran 1-1. The African
team was leading 1-0 with about 15 minutes to go but could not stop
Iran from scoring, and sending them home without advancing to the round
of sixteen.

Instead Mexico moves on to the elimination round
along with Portugal even though they lost to the number one Portugese
team 2-1 in the first match of the day. Portugal played a very strong
game early, but held on to hold off a Mexican attack which was able to
score one goal in the first half, but could
not find a equalizer in the second half of the match...

And in the final matches the Ivory Coast played a great game and came from
behind to beat Serbia 3-2. Both teams will be going home after today,
but they surely put on an exciting exit. The two top teams in the group
also played, the Netherlands and Argentina drew 0-0 in a suprisingly
slower paced game, grinding out the 90 minutes needed to determine
which team would take the first place spot. So, Argentina will stay in
the number one spot, while the Netherlands finishes second...

Thursday: Earlier today Italy and Ghana advanced by upending the USA and the

Czech Republic. Italy played Italian football by grinding out a 2-0 win over the highly ranked Czech Republic. While Ghana
wrote themselves into the history books with a 2-1 win over the USA,
and their subsequent entrance into the final round of sixteen...

It was a bit different in the afternoon as both games were played at a uptempo pace. Brazil made soccer look easy in the second half of their match with Japan, besting them 4-1. Brazil will finish in the top spot for this group, while Australia will represent the second spot. In a wild game the Australians tied a very good Croatian team 2-2
late in the match, coming back to equalize in what was another fast
paced game. The tie proved good enough to advance them into the final
round of sixeen.

Well, we are down to the final day of qualification for the round of
sixteen. This will be the round where the losers go home, and the
winners stay on another day to play for the highest stakes in the
world...

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Let the fun begin. Spain/Saudi Arabia!

Spain is off to the final round of sixteen, claiming the number one spot in this goup after defeating Saudi Arabia 1-0. The only score in this match came in the thirty-sixth minute. A penalty by Saudi Arabi resulted in a free kick by Reyes, lifting the ball into the air and setting up a game winning header by Juanito (20). Spain will face whomever comes out in second place from the today's afternoon group. South Korea, France, and Switzerland are all fighting to advance to the next round.

36th minute - GOAL SPAIN! (0-1)

Goal: 20 - Juanito

Juanito charges forward and rises high to get his head to a Reyes free kick from the left, and Zaid had no chance.