Juanito maintains Spain momentum

A first-half header from defender Juanito Gutiérrez was enough for Spain to see off Saudi Arabia in FIFA World Cup Group H and took Luis Aragonés's side into the last 16 with three wins from three games.

Juanito winner
With progress already assured, the Spain coach made wholesale changes for the match in Kaiserslautern, nevertheless Joaquín Sánchez and José Antonio Reyes both had early glimpses of goal before Mabrouk Zaid produced fine stops to keep out efforts from David Albelda and Joaquín. The Saudi Arabia goalkeeper was finally beaten nine minutes before half-time as Reyes's left-wing free-kick was powerfully headed into the net by Real Betis Balompié centre-back Juanito, although Zaid prevented Reyes from extending the Spanish advantage before the interval.

Saudi fightback
Zaid tipped an Antonio López shot past the post early in the second half, although the Saudis twice went close to an equaliser as Santiago Cañizares almost fumbled Hussain Sulaimani's long-range strike into the net before touching an angled attempt from the same player around the post. Saad Al Harthi also blazed over late on after good work from Mohamed Noor, but Spain held on and will next play the Group G runners-up France in Hannover on Tuesday evening.