World Cup 2006 Groups: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H

Group H Team Profiles: Spain | Ukraine | Tunisia | Saudi Arabia

Group H

 Spain
 Ukraine
 Tunisia
 Saudi Arabia

Group H Matches

Match # Date & Time Group Teams Result Venue
15 Wed 14th Jun 15:00 H  ESP  UKR 4 - 0 Leipzig
16 Wed 14th Jun 18:00 H  TUN  KSA 2 - 2 Munich
32 Mon 19th Jun 18:00 H  KSA  UKR 0 - 4 Hamburg
31 Mon 19th Jun 21:00 H  ESP  TUN 3 - 1 Stuttgart
47 Fri 23rd Jun 16:00 H  KSA  ESP 0 - 1 Kaiserslautern
48 Fri 23rd Jun 16:00 H  UKR  TUN 1 - 0 Berlin

Match times shown are local times for Germany (CEST/GMT+0200). Click on match date/time to view match statistics.

Spain are by far the most experienced, and also the seeded team in Group H, and would be expected to progress to at least the second round, despite their record of underachievement. Captain Raul and midfielder Xavi are both currently recovering from serious knee injuries, and the Spaniards will be hoping to see them both fit again for the summer to maintain their World Cup chances.

Ukraine had a comfortable qualifying campaign and were the first team to qualify from the European zone, winning a group that included Greece, Turkey, and Denmark. Despite a reliance on star striker Andriy Shevchenko, their opponents in Group H would be wise not to underestimate them.

Saudi Arabia also had an impressive qualifying campaign, coming through the two Asian group stages unbeaten, and beating World Cup 2002 semi-finalists Korea Republic twice along the way. Since the group draw on 9th December 2005, the Saudi's have sacked their Argentinian coach Gabriel Calderon and replaced him with the Brazilian Marcos Paqueta for the World Cup 2006 finals. What effect that move will have on the team reamins to be seen.

Of the four African teams competing at World Cup 2002 in Korea/Japan, Tunisia are the only ones to be back four years later, and now return as reigning African champions. Tunisia will be aiming to get to the second round, exceeding their performance at any of their three previous World Cup finals appearances, and might just make it.