JEDDAH, 20 June 2006 — Saudi Arabia failed to find their magic against a fleet-footed Ukrainian side, which revived their hopes of advancing to the second round with a 4-0 victory in World Cup Soccer Group H yesterday in Hamburg.
Goals from Andriy Rusol and Serhiy Rebrov had given a fired-up Ukrainian side a deserved 2-0 lead before Andriy Shevchenko headed home from an inswinging free kick just a minute after halftime. Shevchenko set up midfielder Maksim Kalinichenko for the fourth in the 84th minute.
On a rainy Hamburg day, Saudi fans, who had thronged the stadium in the hope of coming away at least with a draw in the key group match, saw their side outplayed by the speedy Ukrainians. Saudi Arabia were never really allowed space by the five-man midfield that was backed up by two stoppers, and thus failed to find the form they had displayed in their opening group match against Tunisia, which ended 2-2.
The Eastern Europeans dominated throughout, with coach Oleg Blokhin’s change to a 3-5-2 formation after last week’s 4-0 drubbing by Spain offering plenty of width to generate a series of crosses which troubled a nervous Saudi defense. The Saudis showed promise going forward in patches, but created little by way of clear-cut scoring chances.
Rusol put Ukraine ahead in the 4th minute from a header from a corner kick. Rusol was unguarded inside the penalty box and his header went between the legs of Saudi goalkeeper Mabrouk Zayed. Stunned by the goal, Saudi Arabia tried to come back and in the very next minute, Reda Tukar, put through inside the penalty box, squandered the opportunity by shooting carelessly over the top. Had this opportunity been taken the match could have been different.
Though the Saudis pressed for an equalizer the use of lone striker Yasir Al-Qahtani allowed the Ukraine defense to regroup and stave off the threats.
Many Saudi fans described their team’s performance as confused and unorganized. They felt that there was no link between the defense, midfield and the roving striker. They also felt that the Saudis relied heavily on Muhammad Noor to trigger the attacks with passes to Qahtani, and this made Ukraine defense’s job all the more easy by marking these two effectively.
Ukraine captain Shevchenkov, totally unguarded inside the penalty box by the two defenders Tukar and Hamad Al-Muntasheri, nearly struck in the 13th minute. Again a Saudi defensive mistake nearly let Shevchenkov through in the 17th minute. But they did not have to wait long for their second. In the 36th minute Saudi keeper Zayed fell victim to the pitch, slipping as he tried to block a dipping long-range drive from Rebrov which made it 2-0.
Shevchenkov got on to the score sheet in the 46th minute with a nice header from a free kick. Though the Saudi coach introduced Malek and Al-Khathran in an effort to boost the strike force, the Saudis failed to find the target. Kalinichenko sealed the Ukraine win in the 84th minute.
