Coach : Gabriel Calderon
A former World Cup player with Argentina, Calderon cut his teeth as a coach in France before taking over the reins as Saudi Arabia boss after a spell at Lausanne in Switzerland.
Key Players:
As if being hailed as the next big thing to emerge out of Saudi Arabia is not a large enough burden, Yasser Al Qahtani also has to contend with having the highest transfer fee of a Saudi player. Al Hilal paid ?2million for his services in the summer of 2005, highlighting just how highly rated he is in his homeland. In qualifying he has lived up to his eye-catching reputation, not least in the 2-0 win over South Korea when his pace and trickery saw him score one and win a penalty for the other. Expect him to shine on the biggest stage of all.
Form Guide:
Saudi Arabia had a relatively easy ride in stage two of the Asian qualifying section, topping the group ahead of Turkmenistan, Indonesia and Sri Lanka before stage three, when they had to raise their game further to finish ahead of South Korea, Uzbekistan and Kuwait.
Form Versus Countries In Group:
They have never met Spain, Ukraine or Tunisia in the competition.
Style Of Play:
Sometimes Calderon's players try to over-elaborate when they would be better adopting the style of some of the more successful Asian countries by concentrating on the basics and building from there using their more flamboyant players. At times their backline looks shaky but some creativity provided by the likes of Al Qahtani and Bandar Al Dossari makes them a threat going forward.
Group Verdict:
Progression from this group would be as much of an achievement, if not greater, than their exploits in the States. But with Spain being so unpredictable at major tournaments and both Ukraine and Tunisia being unknown entities, the Saudis are definitely capable of springing another surprise.
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