STUTTGART, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Spain fought back from one goal down to beat Tunisia 3-1 to qualify for the World Cup knockout stage after a rain-affected Group H game here on Monday.

    Spain, who downed Ukraine 4-0 in their group opener, waited until the second half to equalize through Raul and go on to win in style from two more goals thanks to Fernando Torres.

    Joahar Mnari put Tunisia into a shock lead after great work from Ziad Jaziri inside the penalty area in the eighth minute. The ball from Jaziri found Mnari whose initial shot was saved by Iker Casillas but he tucked away the rebound.

    Xabi Alonso fired in a cracking effort from 30 meters in the 39th minute out but the ball went well wide of Tunisia goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel's left-hand post.

    The rain poured down on the pitch after 40 minutes making conditions increasingly difficult for the players.

    Raul, who was on in the second half for Luis Garcia, equalised in the 71st minute by pouncing on Boumnijel's poor parry from Cesc Fabregas' weak shot inside the area.

    It was Raul's first goal since October 19, 2005 when he scored against Rosenberg in the Champions League.

    Five minutes later, Spain was 2-1 ahead. Torres, 22, scored Spain's second goal as the Atletico Madrid striker latched on to a Fabregas pass and rounded keeper Boumnijel to put the Spaniards into the lead.

    Torres, who was top scorer for Spain in the qualifiers with seven goals, killed off the game in the final minute. He picked himself up after he was fouled to fire in the spot-kick.

    "We were rather nervous in the first half, " said Tunisia coach Roger Lemerre. "Spain pushed us to the limit in the second half and our players were tired."

    He added: "The match was not extremely aggressive but we have too much respect for the rivals among the players."

    Lemerre, who was the first coach to guild France and Tunisia to different continental champions, said he is realist when asked about Tunisia's last group match against Ukraine.

    "I am a realist. I am neither an optimist nor an pessimist. I hope our team can go far. Ukraine is at the same situation with us, but we know the result will be decided in the last match."

    Spain coach Luis Aragones said the victory is very important for Spain's future.

    "It's a very tough game," he said. "Tunisia played counter attacking football. We played too many long passes. We have problems in the first half. But in the second, we played extremely well and could play our style. That is technical skill."

    "We played better in the second half. We deserved the win."

    It was really a victory spared for Raul, the country's record scorer with 43 goals in 95 games. He was confined to making a second half substitute appearance replacing two-goal hero David Villa of Valencia in the 55th minute in their last game.

    Spain will next play Saudi Arabia and Tunisia vie for the other knockout stage spot against Ukraine.

    Ukraine stayed second in the group standings after beating Saudi Arabia 4-0 in the day's another game. Tunisia and Saudi Arabia each collected one point after drawing with each other. Enditem

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
[11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]