Spain never quite seem to perform as well as they should on paper. They have some of the most naturally gifted players in the world but put them all together on the World Cup stage and it just hasn’t clicked properly in the past. Indeed, they struggled even during the qualifiers where they finished second to Serbia & Montenegro and had to contend with a playoff to ensure qualification.
It might be the Ukrainians first venture into the World Cup finals but they aren’t going to lie down. In Andriy Schevchenko they have one of the greatest and most naturally gifted strikers in the world.
Prediction – I fancy the Ukraine to pull off a semi shock by earning a good point thanks to an equalizer from the incredible Schevchenko. Final score 1-1.
Saudi Arabia v Tunisia
Neither team are exactly world beating nations and in a group with Spain and Ukraine they are both unlikely to progress any further than the group stages. This looks like it could be the only points up for grabs for either team. Saudi Arabia regularly fail to move past the group stages and don’t look like changing that today.
Tunisia don’t look much better but in having performed reasonably well in Africa they do look the most likely to take the points from this game.
Prediction – 2-0 to Tunisia.
Germany v Poland
Before the tournament began I would have had Germany and Poland as strong favorites to progress and Germany to beat Poland in this match. Things look a little different now with the Poles losing 2-0 to Ecuador and the Germans looking decidedly suspect at the back.
I still fancy Poland to progress from this group and I believe they will do so by taking advantage of the German defensive frailties eventually winning a hard fought, high scoring match.
Prediction – 3-2 to Poland throwing the group completely open.
