LiveBlog: Saudi Arabia-Spain

June 23rd, 2006 | by: Daryl |

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.

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?

International Football News – World Cup Blog RSS Feed

http://www.worldcupblog.org/game-previews/preview-saudi-arabia-vs-spain.html Preview: Saudi Arabia vs. Spain – FIFA World Cup 2006 – World Cup 2006 Blog

[...] LIVEBLOG Follow the match highlights as they happen on the Spain vs. Saudi Arabia LiveBlog and stop by to leave your thoughts and comments about the match [...]
Tom

Deviilz,

They’ll take it lightly but they won’t lose. Spain is far and away the better squad and even half-hearted they’ll win. Although, I think it will be something like 2-1.
dug

anyone lineuppppsSsss????
is torres playing?
Dave

Where can I watch this on the net for free????
or if no one has that, where can I listen?
Deviilz.

..here are the odds :
2 goals advantage to S.Arabia.
Can the matadors win by a 3 goal margin..?
http://www.infynit.com Comm-Commander Radius

Spain has no pressure today, so they will go out and have a good time, probably score 3 goals. 3-1 Spain, look out for a historic Spain-Brazil match in the quarterfinals, Viva La Furia!!!
aamir

can saudi do it??
Philip

Spain scores 3 or 4 goals today even with half A team and half B team out there. My goodness Spain is deep. Saudi’s may be able to punch one in, we’ll see.
Bobbio

2 goals for Torres. Overall 5-0, Spain.
Deviilz.

Will the Spanish take things too lightly,knowing they had already top the group,and the opponent today is the Saudis…?
(no disrespect intended)
Laudrup

I call it 9-0 to the Spaniards.

Yea yea. Here comes the logic: KSA doesn’t look significantly better’n the team which lost 8 against Germany. And the Spanish side is one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. And as Mr. Radius said above, they’re out to have fun which I think means they’ll actually score MORE.

Cheering for Tunisia today though; traveling there in a couple of days and would like to see a game there in the next round!
http://blue2rose.blogspot.com Blah-Me

“can saudi do it??” – Good question!

Highly unlikely though. But it’d be nice to see them make a good finish today. :)

Go SAUDI ARABIA!!
Roland

¡Que viva España!

Let’s go boys. Final score: 4 – 1 Spain.
http://www.fussballwmblog.de/ Norbert

Spain B will win 2:1!
freakaholic

as long as were predicting, im gonna go 5-2 Spain
Carlos

Hello everyone! I say Spain by at least 3 goals! :D
Van

The spanish are taking it easy in this game, yet I think the result will be 3-1 Spain.

BTW, the Spanish Anthem doesn’t have lyrics, that’s why the players weren’t singing.
Roland

Damn, that should have been number one.
freakaholic

that was squad B finishing
Carlos

Yeah… the Marcha Real doesn’t have lyrics. This is the nth blog i’ve seen that complains about the Spanish team not singing their anthem.

They don’t ‘coz there’s nothing to sing.
Roland

Unbelievable, Univision just lost video. Good thing there’s this blog.
JJ

Wheres torres =(
Roland

Torres is sitting this game out.
SydWest

Saudi should be banned if they get run over, I move that next final they give their easily gained spot to the Morrocans, Egyptians,Ivorians,Cameroonians or Nigerians ie a capable side from Africa where there is clearly not enough spots for good teams ( I am not racist I am Arab these guys suck and they embarress without fail)
Roland

SydWest, I’m with you, Fifa needs to rework the ranking system.
freakaholic

i switched. spain B is playing laxidasically. while ukraine and tunisia are fighting to stay alive.
Carlos

Damn what a save!
ETucker

Roland-

dont they want “El Nino” to win the Golden Boot?

he could put it away this game with a few goals!
Roland

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!
Roland

A por ellos… Oeeee!!!

A por ellos… Oeeee!!!

A por ellos… Oeeee!!!
Carlos

GOOOOOOOL España!!!!
Roland

Right, what was I about to say before I was pleasantly interrupted?

Ah, yes, I remember. ETucker, of course they want Torres to win the Golden Boot, but not at the risk of getting him injured or penalized unnecessarily.
ETucker

It begins….
freakaholic

so, i came back. that game is LESS interesting. i think the announcers fell asleep.
Roland

This could easily be 3 – 0 right now, but Zaid is playing very well between the posts.
Carlos

What a tepid shot from Al-Jaber…
Carlos

No power in that shot… Should’ve been a goal.
ETucker

Roland-

either the goalkeeper is playing well, or the strikers don’t have the patience to place their shots :)

how many goals will Raul get this game?

I think he’ll get 1
Dave

Where can I watch this game on the net for free??
Or of no one has that, where can i listen to it?
Roland

I also think Raul will get one. But listen, you can’t take anything away from the Saudi goalkeeper Zaid – he’s having a heck of a game.

It’s hard to believe Fabregas isn’t a starter, he continues to impress.
Carlos

Dave, try http://www.sopcast.com. I get streaming video and English (as in British English, and therefore informed) commentary. :D
Dave

any other places where you guys are watching
Tom

Zaid is playing very well, indeed!

Spain is creating chances but I can see KSA getting a goal. I’ll stand by my 2-1 Spain prediction.
Deviilz.

I hope the goal will spark some life to the match..,not the borefest.
Tom

Dave, ESPN360.com works for some.
Roland

Raul comes out for Villa; guess he won’t get that goal after all.
http://blue2rose.blogspot.com Blah-Me

:D I missed a goal by Spain. Was it really really good? And did I just miss out on the best part of the game?
http://blue2rose.blogspot.com Blah-Me

Dave..

http://livefooty.doctor-serv.com
Carlos

16 shots on goal for Spain vs. 2 for KSA… Spain should have a higher scoreline…
Tom

This blog is dead. Where is everyone? I guess no one cares about this group. I guess it’s pretty obvious that Ukraine and Spain are going through.
http://blue2rose.blogspot.com Blah-Me

5 goals?! I say count Saudi Arabia out already!
Tom

Carlos, many shots were very close for Spain and Zaid had a few really nice saves.
http://blue2rose.blogspot.com Blah-Me

Lol Tom.. the WC excitement seems to have died down. Either that, or everyone now managed to find a television to watch the matches on.
Carlos

Yeah Tom, I know. Zaid is just on fire here… but c’mon… a second goal shouldn’t be long now though, not with a ratio like that!
Carlos

“It looks like a training session.” lol lol lol
Roland

Well, Saudi Arabia advanced their lines this half and have managed to reach the Spanish goal twice. Unfortunately for them, this is giving Spain a lot of room on the counterattack and they’ve been threatening.

Basically, Spain is totally dominating this game. It looks like a training session.
Roland

Best chance for Saudi Arabia so far. Good save by Canizares. Corner coming.
JJ

OH YEAH>.Torres IN!
Carlos

You know guys, after more than a couple of live blogs on this site, I think i’m wishing I could see that ESPN channel Daryl is watching. Just to see how much of an idiot their commentator is. :))
Roland

Well, Saudi Arabia has picked it up and they’re doing better now.
Roland

Sorry, no card for diving, chappy.
daryl

Carlos,

It sounds fun, but it really isn’t.
ETucker

Roland-

this game looks nothin like a trainin session.

Spain’s B team vs. Spain’s A team would be much more entertaining :)
Roland

Ugh, I tried, but the ESPN announcers just sound sooo dryyyyy.
Roland

I can see the Saudi’s plan is to throw themselves in the penalty box and fish for calls. Bah.
Tom

Carlos, it’s not good. I switched over to Univision. I prefer ESPN for its video quality but Univision’s commentators are much better.
Roland

Should be Se equivocó. Not sure, I would have to hear it in context.
ammar

The REFEREEES ARE BLOODY RACISTS>> UNFAIR BIG TIME>> >FIFNALLY ONE FREE KICK………
Roland

equivocó is the past tense of the verb mistake – mistook. I think, my Spanish grammar is rusty.
Tom

Roland, on a Spanish note: What does El equivocó mean? I know equivocar means to mistake, but what does it mean in futbol?
ETucker

They messed up a shot or a pass (usually pass)

For example: el se equivoco en la entrega

Usually “fallo” is for shot.
Tom

I thought that’s what it meant. Like he “mistook” the shot as in he messed up the shot. Got it.
Roland

“The Dragon” got that one. Good call ref.
Roland

I would really like that insurance goal now. Saudi’s still too close for comfort.
Roland

That’s exactly why.
Carlos

Well, this group ends as predicted, with Spain and Ukraine going through.

Prolly would’ve loved to have seen more Spanish goals this game, but hey… 1-0 still makes my day!

¡Vamos España!
Roland

Not the most inspiring win, but I’ll take it. Bring on South Korea! ¡Que venga!
http://blue2rose.blogspot.com Blah-Me

Not what I expected. But whats done is done!
http://www.fussballwmblog.de/ Norbert

The Victory was expected, but I’m not convinced. “Spain B” wasn’t good.
Cocoliso

What a pathetic “struggle” by my fellows!! The Saudis deserved a draw, and I guess that says everything there. Bad vibrations from Germany :-/
mishaal

I agree cocoliso, in the first half
it could have been a disaster for the saudi’s if it werent for zaid but the second half saudi’s should have scored,should have had a penelty and two offside calls went against them
Flix

“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?”

Its called an “Oud” or “Qithara”, the original guitar. The guy is Egyptian, you can tell from his costume, he has attended many Saudi and Arab games all around the world over the years, including in Asia and S. America, he kind of reminds me of Hollywoods “Yaya”, trying to be in every photo/video clip possible.