LiveBlog: Saudi Arabia-Spain

Spain B won 1-0, though it could have been more if not for an inspired performance by Zaid in the Saudi Arabian goal.

Final: Saudi Arabia 0-1 Spain

Full-Time It’s over. Second half was painful to watch, but Spain has three wins and tops Group H. Thanks for stopping by, and for leaving comments. Hopefully this afternoon will be more exciting.

91+ Al Temyat shoots from the right. So very close, but just goes outside the far post.

90:00 4 minutes of added time. I’d quite like to see Saudi Arabia score, just so they can go home with 2 points.

87:00 Al Harthi puts the ball over the bar from eight yards. Saudi Arabia won’t get a better chance than that and he looks suitably disappointed with himslef.

85:00 Torres goes down, a little too easily, in the box. Ref very sensibly says goal kick.

84:40 For the record, this second half has been poor entertainment. Like watching any film starring Tim Allen.

83:00 David Villa reacting very immaturely to being fouled, doing a lot of pushing and shoving.

81:30 Al Temyat’s free kick is saved near post by Canizares. Looked like he meant to cross.

79:00 Free kick in dangerous trritory for Saudi Arabia, after Mouath was brought down. Sulimanio shoots over and wide with his left.

76:00 Al Temyat booked for diving in the box. In his defence he was clipped from behind, though he made a lot of it. But a foul is still a foul, whether you exaggerate it or not.

75:00 Nice footage of the Saudi Arabia supporter with his stringed incidnet. I’ve seen him at every S.A. game. Anyone know what that instrument’s called?

72:30 Al Harti witha run towards goal, he goes down, but no foul. He was sandwiched but made the most of it.

68:30 Reyes subs out for Torres. Torres currently chasing Miroslav Klose for the Golden boot. Klose has four, Torres three.

68:00 Sulimani with a chance on the left hand side of the box, saved by Canizares. That’s woken the crowd up a bit though.

65:00 Fabregas subs out for Xavi. Some solid passing from Fabregas today, but he was one yellow card away from a second round suspension.

63:00 The ESPN announcer cannott shut up about how excited the Spanish announcer next to him sounds. Instead of mocking their Spanish counterparts, the ESPN goon squad should be learning from them.

62:36 It’s Reyes turn to have his shot saved by Zaid now.

59:42 Joaquin dribbles, Joaquin shoots, Zaid saves. Seems I could just copy and paste that sentence every three minutes and this LiveBlog would run itself. Maybe that’s what they’re doing with that computer on “Lost”.

57:00 From the left, Joaquin shoots juts wide of the far post after Fabregas slipped him in.

56:00 Sulimani with a decent left footed shot from distance. Canizares has problems handling it but there’s no one to follow up for Saudi Arabia.

55:00 Spain’s offside trap looking effective against Saudi Arabia, as Noor is caught offside. Saudi Arabia still need 5 goals.

51:00 Zaid rolling around in pain after a collision with Marchena’s leg. He’s now trying to walk it off but you have to fear for Saudi Arabia if he goes off.

49:00 Lopez shoots left footed after yet more good approach work from Spain. Zaid saves.

47:00 Reyes bends a shot from the edge of the box, but it’s off target.

45:00 Second half underway. Spain have subbed David Villa in for Raul.

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Half time Impressive first half passing display by Spain B, matched only by Zaid’s goalkeeping.

45:00 2 minutes stoppage time.

43:20 Joaquin gets down the right again but Dokhi heads away the cross.

42:21 Joaquin brings out the skills and crosses from the right, Reyes’ side footed volley is saved.

41:11 Reyes shot saved, Joaquin cuts the rebound back to Raul, but the defenders get in front.

39:30 Al Jaber went running through but could only manage a weak shot at Canizares.

37:30 Saudi Arabia only need 5 more goals.

35:30 Reyes crossed from a free kick, Juanito thudded a header past Zaid, who had no chance.

35:30 GOAL! Juanito scores for Spain B.

34:40 Yellow for Reyes who got all Saudi, no ball with a slide tackle.

32:00 More good passing gets the ball to Raul at the top of the box, he tries a chip which is only just over.

31:20 Raul muscled off the ball in the area, but no chance of a spot kick.

29:00 jaquin comes in from the right and goe spast 3 Saudi defenders as if they’re not there. His shot is saved by Zaid, who’s looking very impressive.

28:00 More fine passing from Spain leads to Fabregas setting up an Abelda shot, well saved by Zaid .

27:00 Sami Al Jaber picks up a booking for a late tackle in midfield. No need to show him a card for that.

26:15 According to the ESPN announcers (who are so dull I refuse to learn their names) Spain B have had 63% possession.

25:00 Sami Al Jaber receives a great ball out wide and takes a shot from distance, it’s blocked though.

23:04 Canizares and his horrific bleached white hair race out to clear the ball.

20:30 Great dribble by Reyes before he shoots just over. Fabregas pulling the strings in the Spanish midfield. There’s goals coming, I can smell it.

19:20 Reyes nearly finds Raul in the box with a deadly looking ball. Only a matter of time before Spain B scores.

17:00 Reyes brings down a cross with his left, switches to his right and shoots. Shot trickles towards Zaid.

15:00 Quick one-two between Reyes and Raul before squaring it ot Joaquin. Joaquin shoots just over.

14:40 Sami Al Jaber loses the chase for a ball with Lopez, but gives a tidy wack in the leg anyway. The great man is quick to apologise to his victim.

14:00 Spain B 0-0 Saudi Arabia

12:00 Great close control by Raul in the area. In a really tight situation he beat his man but it went nowhere.

11:20 Saudi Arabia only need four more goals to have a shot at the second round.

10:00 Aziz looks to have injured himself with a back heel, he’s stretchered off, and doesn’t look happy.

8:30 Poor free kick from Saudi Arabia, Dokhi then tries to beat his full back but he doesn’t have a trick to show and runs out of play.

6:15 Great footwork by Reyes, completely bamboozling a Saudi defender. He’s another member of this Spain B team who will be looking at a place in the A team.

4:00 Reyes nearly gets the ball across the six yard box, cleared for a corner. Corner is worked short, the cross end with a Raul header that’s just wide.

1:00 What would Raul have to do today to get his starting spot back? I’m guessing quite a lot.

0:00 We’re off.

A l Jaber and Raul do the coin toss, two proper legends.

Spanish national anthem. Not one player sings, though Raul looks wistfully up at the sky.

Saudi Arabia national anthem. Sami Al Jaber sings loud and proud.

5 minutes till kick off, team are in the tunnel. I’m hoping Saudi Arabia can put in a good showing today.

Spain have picked a reserve team, but that still means the likes of Raul, Fabregas and Joaquin. Looking at this impressive second string, does anyone else feel Spain could have finished first and second in Group G?

The teams-

Saudi Arabia: Mabrouk Zaid; Ahmed Dokhi; Redha Tukar; Hamad Al Montashari; Mohammed Noor; Sami Al Jaber; Saad Al Harthi; Abdulaziz Khathran; Hussein Sulimani; Saud Kariri; Khaled Aziz.

Spain - Santiago Canizares; Michel Salgado; Carlos Marchena; David Albelda; Raul; José Antonio Reyes; Antonio Lopez; Andrés Iniesta; Joaquin; Cesc Fábregas; Juanito.

Spain – have already qualified for the second round and can win the group with a point against Saudi Arabia. If they lose to Saudi Arabia, they will still win the group if Ukraine either loses or draws against Tunisia, or beat Tunisia but finish with a worse goal difference (Spain currently +6, Ukraine 0).

Saudi Arabia - can move on to the round of 16 with a win over Spain and an Ukraine loss to Tunisia, provided Saudi Arabia have a better goal difference than Tunisia (Tunisia currently -2, Saudi Arabia -4). If Ukraine and Tunisia draw, Saudi Arabia can move on with a win over Spain and a better goal difference than Ukraine (Ukraine currently 0, Saudi Arabia -4).

Pregame: What is going to be the final score?

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