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World Cup - Saudi Arabia

Calderon leads Saudis through to fourth finals.

Saudi Arabia qualified comfortably for their fourth consecutive FIFA World Cup™ finals, going undefeated through 12 qualifiers and beating the 2002 semi-finalists Korea Republic both home and away. After sailing through the preliminary group stage, winning all six games against Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Turkmenistan, the Saudis knew the serious business would start in the final round and they delivered there too.

A goal from veteran striker Sami Al Jaber on his international comeback earned them a 1-1 draw in Uzbekistan in their Group A opener in February 2005 and the following month they secured a 2-0 victory over Korea Republic in Dammam – a result which boosted morale after their poor display in the 2004 AFC Asian Cup, which they exited at the group stage. They booked their ticket to Germany on 8 June with a 3-0 home success against Uzbekistan and ended their campaign in style two months later as Mohamed Al Anbar’s goal secured a 1-0 win in Seoul.

Saudi Arabia have been Asian champions three times, in 1984, 1988 and 1996. Those continental crowns encouraged the country's authorities to introduce full professionalism and this paid off with a first FIFA World Cup finals appearance at USA 94. The Saudis made a favourable impression on their tournament debut by beating Morocco and Belgium to advance to the second round where they lost to Sweden. After that memorable start, however, their subsequent appearances at France 98 and Korea/Japan 2002 have yielded one draw and five defeats from six matches.

Read more at: FIFA World Cup - Yahoo!