Germany will mark Saudi Arabia's 4th successive appearance at the world cup but they're still making an attempt to match the success achieved in the 1994 finals. Their debut in the USA was surprising, beating Morocco 2-1 and then Belgium 1-0 to cement a place in the second round. Since that time, Saudi Arabia have hardly had an impact in the finals, for positive reasons, anyhow.

The 2002 finals saw them on the tough end of an 8-0 drubbing against Germany in which Miroslav Klose scored five goals while they also finished bottom of their group in 1998. Since losing to Sweden in the last sixteen in the 1994 finals, they have endured 5 defeats and one draw in 6 matches. Maybe the Saudi Arabian royal family had a point after all as soccer was banned in the dominion till as lately as 1951. Previous Argentina world Gabriel Calderon will be avid to make amends after replacing Gerard lorry der Lem following the Saudi's poor showing at the 2004 Asian Cup. The side conceded only two goals in twelve matches, helped by highly regarded goalkeeper Mabrouk Zaid who is regarded the best in the East. He could be a deserving replacement to Mohamed Al Deayea who recorded an international record 173 caps for his country and is eager on a move to Europe. The cup will be one final hurrah for vet playmaker Sami Al Jaber.

This can be his 4th competition and he has represented his country for half his thirty three years. After netting on his debut in 1990, he became the first Asian player to score goals in 2 uninterrupted World Cups scoring the winning goal against Morocco in 1994 to mark Saudi Arabia's first ever finals win and in the 2-2 draw against S. A. in 1998. Al Jaber, came out of retirement to help with qualification and scored twice in the 3-0 win against Uzbekistan. What is probably going to stop Saudi Arabia from qualifying from Group H is an overall shortage of experience against top class opposition. Only Al Jaber in his short spell at Wolves in the two thousand / 01 season and Fahd Al Ghashayan in a spell at AZ Alkmaar have experience of EU club soccer in the state's history. The contest will be a grand occasion to trustworthy servant Sami Al Jaber but it's likely to be an early exit for Saudi Arabia once again.

The best bet may be for them to lose all 3 matches and finish bottom of the group. Gigantic hitters may not be put off by the odds-on costs for both Spain and Ukraine.