World Cup: Group H Preview

14th June 2006

The FIFA 2006 World Cup is well underway in Germany, so The Forgotten Imp is here to provide a concise guide to the tournament; we conclude by looking at Group H.

Group H is probably the most mysterious of the eight groups, as three of the teams are relatively unknown. The group consists of Spain, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Ukraine.

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Spain - Spain are the perennial underachievers who "choke" at every major tournament. They are quoted at 1/9 to qualify from this group, which they should do with ease.

However, no matter which tournament that Spain feature in, they always underachieve, even when it seems impossible to do so. They even failed to progress beyond the group stage of the last European Championships.

The irony is that Spain always produce very talented teams and should have by now, won the World Cup. This squad is no exception and if they had been allegianced to another country, then quarter-finals would be their minimum goal; but with the tradition of Spanish underachieving, then who knows where they finish!

Spain have an abundance of talented strikers this year, with Raul leading the way. Raul has scored 41 international goals in 83 appearances.

Players to watch out for are strikers Fernando Torres and David Villa. Torres is expected to leave Athletico Madrid shortly for a considerable sum. Villa should cement his place in the Spainish side and prove a capable goal scorer for years to come.

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Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia will suffer from their players not plying their trade in foreign countries. They are unlikely to progress, so the bookmakers have quoted world cup odds of 7/1 for Saudi Arabia to reach the next stage.

About the only certain thing for Saudi Arabia is that coach Marcos Paqueta will receive the sack should they fail to progress because Saudi Arabia do not have a good record of sticking with coaches. Even success is no guarantee to keeping your job, as Gabriel Calderon found out after he led Saudi Arabia to qualification for the tournament.

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Tunisia - Tunisia are quoted at 7/4 to qualify from Group H, but are realistically likely to vie for the third place with Saudi Arabia.

However, they could surprise a few people, as this is Tunisia's third World Cup finals in succession. They also won the African Nations' Cup in 2004. Should Ukraine - but surely not Spain(!) - underachieve, then Tunisia could grasp a qualification place.

A player to watch out for is striker Francileudo dos Santos. Now, if he does not sound like a traditional Tunisian striker, then it is because he is not! In fact, dos Santos was born in Brazil but has been granted Tunisian nationality.

Tunisia will be looking to win a World Cup Finals match for the first time since their World Cup debut matches in Argentina during the 1978 tournament.

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Ukraine - Ukraine are a very good side but have yet to prove this on the major stage. Should Ukraine play to their capabilities then their qualification odds of 1/3 look a safe bet.

The Ukraine nations' hopes rest on striker Andriy Shevchenko, who scored six goals during qualification for the tournament. Shevchenko is undoubtedly one of the world's most talented strikers, as English fans will soon realise when he plays for Chelsea next season.

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