Spain 1-0 Saudi Arabia

Spain ensured they went through to the last 16 of the World Cup as winners of Group H when they won by a slim margin of 1-0 over Saudi Arabia on Friday.

With qualification assured, Spain tried out almost all their second-stringers. Centre back Juanito scored with a bullet header past keeper Mabrouk Zaid after Jose Antonio Reyes whipped in a free kick from the left. Spain is now unbeaten in 25 games and they have won all three group matches for the second World Cup in a row.

The Spain substitutes quickly settled into their usual fluent passing game and although they did little to trouble the Saudi defence in the first quarter of an hour, they warmed to the task as the half wore on. Winger Joaquin went close with a dipping shot and midfielder David Albelda had a fierce drive turned past the post by Zaid after a gleaming passing move involving Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas just before the half hour. Six minutes later Juanito put Spain into the lead with his header and Reyes went close to extending his side's lead with a sharp volley just before the break.

Coach Luis Aragones replaced captain Raul with David Villa at halftime and gave leading scorer Fernando Torres a run out for the final 20 minutes, but it was the Saudis which took charge in the last 20 minutes by launching waves of attacks on the Spainish defence. Spain found it hard to impose their game and lost their rhythm.

Defender Hussein Sulaimani twice forced Santiago Canizares to make sharp saves midway through the half and substitute Nawaf Al Temyat caused problems for the back four with some neat runs into the area. In the 90th minute, the best chance fell to Al Harthi after a good build-up from Mohammed Noor but he made a mess of it by blasting it over the bar from close range.

It was a disappointing end to the tournament for Saudi Arabia but it will be hard for Soccer Pundit to imagine them in the second round as their front-line and defence were simply not at the world class level yet. Against Tunisia, they surrended the lead to draw 2-2, then they cannot score against Ukraine and Spain with several clear chances. Their midfield performed credibly but as they say, you can't score then you can never win.

Spain were good once again in the group stages but how well they do in the knock-out phase will be anybody's guess. Will it be another sad end for the perennial underperformer or a fairytale ending? Soccer Pundit can only say it all depends on Spain, if they are to play out the last 20 minutes of this match (when they were totally outplayed) in subsequent matches, then they can make travel arrangements to go home but if they played out the heroics of the match against Ukraine, then they will advance...