mindless ramblings

Saudi Arabia blamed the rain for screwing up their game, as they collapsed to a 4-0 thrashing by the Ukrainians, who had led their first game 4-0 to the Spaniards. The Saudis never looked like taking anything from the game, especially after Andriy Rusol’s 4th minute opener. The Ukranians executed their game plan to perfection, and it paid off 3 more times, with the Chelsea signing Andriy Shevchenko opening his account at the World Cup. They now lie second but they’ll need to do well against Tunisia to make sure of their place in the second round.

Chronic underachievers Spain suffered an early shock when Jaouhar Mnari scored in the 8th minute to put the Tunisians ahead. The Tunisians stoically defended their lead, until Raul pounced on a loose ball by the Tunisian goalkeeper to bundle the ball into the Tunisian net in the 71st minute. Inspired by this, the Spaniards poured forward and was rewarded when Fernando Torres picked up Cesc Fàbregas’ through pass, went round the keeper and scored. The Tunisians started attacking more to find an equalizer, but this left gaps at the back. The Spanish exploited this, and Alaeddine Yahia climbed all over Torres in the penalty area and left the referee no choice but to award the penalty. The resulting penalty by Torres was somewhat poorly struck, but it squirmed its way past the Tunisian keeper to put the nail in the coffin.