Big Question: Who’s going to win Group H?

I´d hope for Spain to advance. They didn´t perform that well in the past so they deserve so this time I guess.

my choice…

spain
ukraine
saudiarabia
tunisia

1)Spain(raul + torres will shine this time)
2)Tunisia(africas strongest)
3)Ukraine(one man army, shevchenko)
4)Saudia(2european = 2loss)

Tunisia (not the overrated Ivory Coast!) is the African team that going to shock everyone by winning this group.

Spain, who is without Vicente and Baraja, will be the runner up.

Saudi Arabia has improved a lot. They beat Korea home and away in the qualifier matches. They’ll be third.

Ukraine has very little experience playing against non-European teams. Bottom place for them.

Spain
Tunisia
Ukraine
Saudi Arabia

Even assuming that Spain draw with Ukraine in the opening match, how can anyone NOT see them getting out of this group?

I know, I know: All signs are pointing up for Spain, except this is the World Cup and Spain always underachieves in the World Cup.

Let’s reconsider this though: The team hasn’t lost since coach Luis Aragones took over in 2004.

This team could have gone all wobbly in the group stage – if it were drawn into a tougher group. As it is, the class of Spain will see it through to the Round of 16.

Actually, the very first match on June 14 will determine the group winner. I see the key to this match being two things: 1) Iker Casillas and 2) Shevchenko’s fitness.

I think that Casillas and the Spanish central defense will be able to handle Shevchenko, who might not be on form.

Spain – 1st
Ukraine – 2nd (beating out Tunisia on goal difference)
Tunisia – 3rd
Saudi Arabia – 4th

Spain has not performed well at the big tournaments, maybe this is the year? (Don’t we ask that every time around, and this side is certainly not as strong as years past).

Ukraine came out of a qualifying group which included 3 nations ranked in the FIFA top 20 (Denmark, Turkey, and Euro Champs Greece) and was the first European team to qualify.

Tunisia – who knows? Weren’t they in Japan/Korea? If so, they will not have the deer in headlights look and might grab a few points.

Saudi Arabia – Lots of oil money… could they buy a second round birth? They have the world’s most capped player, their goalie, let’s hope he’s not the starting goalie for his sake.

My predictions:

Spain 1:1 Ukraine
Tunisia 1:0 Saudi Arabia
Spain 5:0 Saudi Arabia
Tunisia 1:3 Ukraine
Spain 2:2 Tunisia
Ukraine 0:0 Saudi Arabia

Spain – 5pts (1st on goal difference)
Ukraine – 5pts
Tunisia – 4 pts
Saudi Arabia – 1pt

1. Spain
2. Ukraine
3. Tunis
4. Saudi Arabia

1 and 2 could easily flip, with Ukraine winning the group. Spain is a notorious underachiever in WC and Ukraine pretty much ran the table in the qualifying round and is ably coached by a former great, 1975 Footballer of the Year Oleg Blokhin. One has to give Spain slight edge on paper because of its past experience.

Why did they put the only to arab countries in the cup in the same group???LOL, LOL!!
lETS GO SAUDI ARABIA AND TUNIS!!!
i like all the teams in this group, i think this is going to be an exciting cup, all the groups seem very unpredictable.
Hers my prediction:
Tunisia
Ukraine
Spain
Saudi

Ahhh, Spain with the choke again, eh? Hope not.

Ukraine 2 wins, 1 loss
Spain 2 wins, 1 loss
Tunisia 2 wins, 1 loss
Saudi Arabia 3 losses

This is a no brainer ….

Saudi Arabia
Tunisia
Ukraine
Spain

Ukraine and Tunisia will be fighting for the top spot.

Prediction:
Ukraine
Tunisia
Spain
Saudi Arabia

Ukraine and Spain are definitely the favorites. Tunisia and Saudi Arabia are too weak to forward into finals. More of my foreast here: http://fo.reca.st/wm.php?u=gogi

1. Spain — I know they always choke, but I think they’ll put that off at least until the first knockout round.

2. Ukraine — Assuming Shevchenko is fit in time. Otherwise, they’re screwed.

3. Tunisia — Could be one the African team to pull off an upset this year, but I don’t see it happening.

4. Saudi Arabia — Three games, three losses, one flight home.

spain and ukraine mau end up with the same points…7(?)..goals with determine who is first.i think both teams are good canditdayes to go ahead to quarter finals …i’ve seen many ukraine games there is much more than sheva..

Saudi Arabia will be last.
Tunisia is the strongest African team and they will go even to the quarter finals.
I think that Spain will go to the second round too.
This is a very hard group for predictions.

Spain and Ukraine better make it out of this group for reasons that I will not explain in this blog.

I thought Saudi could cause an upset and actually qualify if they still had Calderon as coach, but they fired him for the randomest reason and got this Paqueta sucky coach. Now its pretty much Spain at the top and Ukraine fighting with Tunisia for 2nd. Saudi last with the new coach.

Saudi Arabia and Tunisia will shock the world (inshallah)

1.Tunisia
2.Saudi Arabia
3.Ukraine
4.Spain

:p

you guys always make assumptions on previous plays, reasonable. And yet base it on probabilities. Forgetting that football is so unpredicted.
..Spain which is ranked the 5th, pretty strong team, i say they would qualify.
..Tunisia, the African champions and still 3 of their basic players not playing. i say they won’t qualify.
Now Ukraine, ranked the 42nd and no experience at all in world cups, but they got a chance.
Saudi Arabia, disastrous, calderon did a good job, they got a few good players, they’re unpredictable like 1994. they might surprize you. ranked 32, and from the czech match, did a good job keeping it 2 nill lol.
Well i say:
1 Spain
2-3 is either saudi or Ukraine.
if saudi isn’t the second, its gonna be the last. but i think Tunisia got a better chance getting the 2nd place. rather than Ukraine.

1-spain
2-ukraine
3-tunisia
4-saudi

Spain first because their experience and they have a bunch of guys who can score Raul,luis garcia etc

Ukraine hoping andriy is 100% when playing and being helpped by vorinron it shall be interesting.

tunisia- very underrated but skill wise cant match up with ukriane/spain.

arabia- hm..they dont have alot of talent but they sure got some experience. meh itll be close between them and tunisia

Group H predictions by Dave Hamilton

Advancing: UKRAINE and SPAIN

UKRAINE is making its first World Cup appearance ever and much of the football world is eagerly awaiting superstar Andriy Shevchenko’s debut in his country’s colors. Chelsea’s newest multimillionaire — with 127 career goals in Italy’s Serie A and 30 in Champions League play — will shoulder the lion’s share of responsibility for his team’s success as well as unremitting attention from the opposition. But it takes more than one man to succeed at this level, and help is available. There are a few injury concerns days before the event, most notably goalie Oleksandr Shovkovsky’s recovering collarbone. The starting keeper is a “must” if Ukraine is to advance. Another key will be that “other Andriy” striker, Voronin. His role may be largely reduced to providing Shevchenko along with midfielder Maksim Kalinichenko, but Voronin must make his presence felt in each match. It seems that virtually everyone behind this aforementioned trio comprises an all-star team from Dynamo Kiev, including box-dominator Shovkovsky. Coach Oleg Blokhin’s attacking style will mostly feature a 4-3-1-2 against the group teams, with speedy Ruslan Rotan, Oleh Gusev and Volodymyr Yezerskiy pressing constantly on the wings. A draw, at least, in their opener against Spain should go a long way toward assuring Ukraine’s place in the round of 16.

SPAIN probably is well aware of its miserable history in the World Cup and, moreover, have even fresher reminders of their most recent qualifying group struggles. It seems like gifted striker Raul has been around forever, but he is only 28 and will lead his team’s assault on goal along with the teammate that may determine their club’s fate, Fernando Torres. Without some appreciable measure of complementary dominance up front by Torres, Spain could be in trouble yet again. Likewise, a lot of expectations have been pinned on 18-year-old midfielder Cesc Fabregas. The Arsenal phenom will join a solid cast in the middle of the park that includes Xavi, David Albelda, Luis Garcia and Xabi Alonso, all able to contribute to Spain’s flowing one-touch style. Catalan bruiser Carles Puyol leads a diversified defensive wall that offers adequate protection before attackers face big Iker Casillas, who could log multiple clean sheets in this final. Coach Luis Aragones reportedly wants to emphasize his defense this time around, but regardless of his combinations (he does enjoy decent depth), Spain likely won’t make it past the round of 16.

TUNISIA is the experimental lab that Roger Lemerre, who coached France’s memorable flop in the last Cup, is using nowadays to recapture some semblance of his 2000 Euro Cup glory. While his side does have some chance to emerge from group play, it will take the Carthage Eagles’ best effort. A lot hinges on the ability of the front pairing of Lemerre’s 4-4-2, native Brazilian and team standout Francileudo Dos Santos and Zied Jaziri, to use their quickness and cuts to get loose in front of the goal. Both are short and small and not easy to mark, but neither is strong in the air. If either falters, Issam Jomaa could get the call off the bench. Veteran midfielder Riadh Bouazizi will concentrate almost solely on defensive duties, Hamed Namouchi will handle distribution chores, and wingmen Adel Chedli and Jawhar Mnari could be pleasant surprises while augmenting thrusts. Rahdi Jaidi is an extremely physical defender who leads the back line. Karim Saidi, an excellent tackler, should maintain order on the other side of the field along with Hatem Trabelsi, a superb attacking defender. The tournament’s oldest player, keeper Ali Boumnijel at 40, is a safe pair of hands between the posts and still has decent reflexes.

SAUDI ARABIA hopes to put the nightmare of 2002 behind them this time and should offer stiffer resistance to opponents, but will be lucky to beat out Tunisia for third in the group. Packed as usual with home-grown talent, the Saudis are led by World Cup veterans Sami Al Jaber and the world’s most capped player, keeper Al Deayea, both 33. Manager Marcos Paqueta will rely also on deft-dribbling midfielder Yaser Al Qahtani to loosen up defenses and Asia’s current player of the year, Hamad Al Montashari, to keep things together deep in their own territory. The worst that can happen to Paqueta is he will become the 11th coach in 15 years to be dismissed by the Saudi’s national football association. On second thought, maybe he could be expelled to coach Laos.

Spain is going to win the world Cup, there is no question.