June 8, 2006

by Stan Anderson

Filling in for Khaled, the world traveler, who is out in South Carolina at a coaching course, I will do my best.

This is the sleeper group.

Spain has to be the team to watch and beat. They are loaded with individual talent and could put it all together this year. The Saudis and Tunisia are relative newcomers and will have to be brilliant over a long stretch to advance to the round of eight. Keep in mind that Saudi did perform well on U.S. soil in 1994 when they did advance, but only one player remains off that side, Sami Al-Jaber. The Ukrainians have done well as they qualified out of a tough European group that had Denmark and Greece in it.

Players to watch in Group H
Spain -- Raul (F) and Carlos Puyol (D) and Iker Casillas (GK)
Tunisia -- Francileudo dos Santos (F)
Saudi Arabia -- Mohammed Al-Deayea (GK) and Sami Al-Jaber (F)
Ukraine -- Andriy Shevchenko (F) and Ruslan Rotan (M)

Match to watch in Group H
Spain vs Ukraine, Wednesday June 14th 8 p.m CDT on ESPN2. It leads off World Cup play for both sides. With a healthy Shevchenko on the pitch anything can happen!

Who will advance?
Spain and Saudi Arabia

Group H Schedule
Wed., June 14 -- ESP vs UKR -- Leipzig
Wed., June 14 -- TUN vs KSA -- Muhich
Mon., June 19 -- ESP vs TUN -- Stuttgart
Mon., June 19 -- KSA vs UKR -- Hamburg
Fri., June 23 -- KSA vs ESP -- Kaiserslautern
Fri., June 23 -- UKR vs TUN -- Berlin

Personal World Cup Memories
Spain is the one team I have watched in the World Cup and have the potential to be world beaters but have rarely shown brightly on the world stage. Look back here for some thoughts from Coach El-Ahmad as he will surely have some thoughts here. For me? This will be the year that Tunisia will fill my mind with World Cup memories.