World Cup: Day of the late, late goals

An 93th min header from Radhi Jaidi rescued a point for Tunisia as they drew 2-2 with Saudi Arabia. Tunisia had a good first half that resulted in Zied Jaziri's lucky 23rd-minute goal. A Saudi defender headed a cross out of the box but the ball hit another Saudi player, and then the ball bounced to Jaziri who made no mistake. The Saudis fought back in the second half. They drew level through Yasser Al Kahtani's fine near-post finish in the 57th minute after a flowing move down the right wing. And then they thought they had taken all three points when substitute Sami Al Jaber completed another sweeping move with a cool finish six minutes from time. A Saudi defender headed the ball out of their own box, a player picked it up ran at Tunisia in midfield, passed it to a striker who then pass it out wide to Al Jader who scored. A move that went from one end of the field to the other in about 5 seconds. Beautiful! It should be the winning goal but wasn't because of Jaidi. Both sides look good attacking but the defence of both is poor. The Saudi especially was very weak whenever a high ball was pumped in while the Tunisians defender looked slow compared to the fleet-footed Saudis. Both sides still have a chance to progress but will need to work on their defence if they want to go far.

Spain made a dream start to their campaign with a 4-0 victory over Ukraine. In a brave decision, the coach actually left Raul on the bench. Everyone (including me) thought that the out-of-form striker was too important to be left on the beach. The coach didn't think so and was rewarded when his 2 strikers scored 3 of the 4 goals. Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso headed a 13th minute opener off a cross before David Villa doubled the advantage in the 17th min. The freekick took a deflection off the wall that wrong footed the keeper who had no chance. Vladyslav Vashchuk was then showed a red card just two minutes into the second half after conceding a penalty for a challenge on Fernando Torres. Bad decision ref! Ok, he did pulled Torres but it was only a slight pull. It happen all the time! Villa tucked away the spot-kick and then Torres completed the scoring with a half-volley in the 91th min. Shevchenko, who suffered a knee injury while playing for AC Milan a month ago was plainly unfit. I know Ukraine needs him but he couldn't sprint, so maybe Ukraine will need to work on his fitness again.

In the last game of the night, Germany beat Poland 1-0 with another injury time goal. Oliver Neuville scored in 91st min. This is despite Radaslow Sobolewski being sent off for the Poles in the 75th min. The Poles are almost out and deserve to be so, especially if they can't score againest the Germans paper-thin defence. Germany are through to the next round, contiuning the streak of the host nation always going to the second round of the World Cup. A streak that has lasted over 70 years!