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sportsfan2006 · Joined: 01 Jun 2006 Posts: 7

FIFA World Cup
Group H
Spain-Ukraine-Tunisia-Saudi Arabia

By Jacob Mitchell
http://www.wagerweb.com/
Contributing Writer

Iraq has withdrawn from a FIFA World Cup warm-up match with finalists Tunisia for administrative reasons, the Tunisian Football Federation said on Thursday. The Iraqis were replacing Kuwait who had pulled out.
"The Iraqi team will not be able to fly to Germany for the match because of administrative problems," a Tunisian federation spokesman said. Tunisia is in Group H alongside Saudi Arabia, Spain and Ukraine. Their campaign gets under way on June 14 against Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia were beaten 1-0 by Turkey in a FIFA World Cup warm-up match in Offenbach, near Frankfurt. Following a 2-0 defeat four days earlier against the Czech Republic. Necati scored the only goal in the 59th minute in front of a crowd of 9,000 spectators, mostly from the large Turkish community. Nearly two million Turks live in Germany. Turkey controlled the match but striker Nihat squandered two chances in the 35th and 37th minute.
Saudia Arabia plays Ukraine on 19 June and Spain on 23 June. Turkey drew 1-1 with Ghana; another FIFA World Cup team in Bochum on Friday will face another finalist, Angola in Berlin on 2 June.
Spain has asked FIFA for permission to bring in another player to replace injured defender Asier del Horno, the Spanish Football Federation said on Tuesday. The Chelsea fullback damaged the area around his Achilles tendon in training last week.
After a scan on Tuesday, national team doctor Genaro Borras said Del Horno would be out of action for 10 days and would need at least another 10 to get back to full fitness after that. The leading candidates to replace Del Horno are Deportivo Coruna's Joan Capdevila and Getafe's Argentine-born Mariano Pernia if FIFA give permission. Spain plays their opening game against Ukraine on June 14.
FK Kharkiv defender Olexander Yatsenko has been added to Oleg Blokhin's Ukraine FIFA World Cup squad the country's football federation (FFU) said on Tuesday. The 21-year-old replaces injured Serhiy Fedorov in the 23-man squad for the month-long tournament in Germany. Yatsenko is playing for Ukraine at the UEFA European U-21 Championship in Portugal and will not be available for the senior team at least until Friday.
Ukraine has been hit by a rash of injuries in recent weeks, and Yatsenko joins three other players from the U-21 team, Andriy Piatov, Dmytro Chigrinsky and Artyom Milevsky, drafted into their FIFA World Cup squad.

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