SPAIN V UKRAINE - SPANISH STALEMATE IN STORE
Andy Schooler

Any football fan worth their salt knows Spain are perennial underachievers when it comes to the World Cup.

You'll almost certainly know someone who insists 'this must be their year', after all they have probably the strongest league in Europe.

But like past incarnations, this Spanish national team has hardly been setting the world alight of late.

Although they were unbeaten in qualifying, they drew five of their 10 group games and had to rely on a play-off (they beat Slovakia 6-2 on aggregate) to reach Germany 2006.

In recent warm-up games they were held 0-0 at home by Russia, beat Egypt 2-0 before seeing off Croatia 2-1 thanks only to an injury-time winner.

In their opener they face a Ukraine side who have qualified for the World Cup for the first time.

Sadly for the Spanish, Ukraine are exactly the sort of opposition they've slipped up against in the past.

Remember Nigeria at France 98 where Spain lost 3-2? Or how about the Koreans in USA 94? The game ended 2-2.

In fact, Spain have a dreadful record in World Cup openers.

In their last nine finals appearances, Spain have only won their first match once, so it's no wonder they've often made an early exit.

Ukraine could well lengthen that list.

They have some quality players playing around Europe, not just Chelsea new boy Andriy Shevchenko, who is a doubt for this game due to a knee injury, although he is expected to start.

They topped their group, one which included 2002 semi-finalists Turkey, and have been banging in the goals in their warm-up games.

However, they deliberately chose weak opposition for those friendlies and despite Spain's deficiencies, will undoubtedly find things harder here.

In fact, goals may well be in short supply.

Yes, there will be attacking talent on show with the likes of Shevchenko (if fit) and Fernando Torres, but Spain kept seven clean sheets in qualifying, while Ukraine let in just seven goals in 12 games.

Ukraine will doubtless be happy with a point - this on paper looks to be their hardest game - and while Spain clearly have the best players, their propensity to slip up means they make little appeal at a best 17/20.

With the game kicking off at 3pm local time in what are predicted to be temperatures in the high 20s, attacking bursts may be few and far between.

For these reasons, we like the look of the draw, on offer at 23/10.

With two strong defences on show, we're also prepared to have a small punt on no goalscorer (7/1) which looks better than less than 2.5 goals, available at 3/5.

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