Saudi Arabia 0 Ukraine 4: Ukraine recovered from their unhappy World Cup debut to with a 4-0 victory over Saudi Arabia that resurrects their hopes of qualification for the second round from Group H.

Andriy Rusol got Ukraine on the way in only the fourth minute and Serhiy Rebrov made it two in the 36th minute. Ukraine's celebrated striker Andriy Shevchenko and Maksim Kalinichenko completed the rout in the second half.

It was the perfect tonic to banish the memories of their opening 4-0 defeat to Spain.

Spain and Ukraine lead the group with three points each from Tunisia and Saudi Arabia with one apiece but the Spaniards play Tunisia in Stuttgart at 8pm.

Oleg Blokhin's side dominated throughout, after changing to a 3-5-2 formation that generated a series of crosses which troubled a nervous Saudi defence.

They had already gone close when centre-back Rusol burst on to a Kalinichenko corner to give them their first goal in a World Cup finals after just four minutes, kneeing home from close range.

Saudi keeper Mabrouk Zaid fell victim to the pitch in the 36th minute, slipping as he tried to block a dipping long-range drive from Rebrov which made it 2-0.

Shevchenko added the third within a minute of the restart, heading home another well-hit Kalinichenko centre to mark a return to form after a month blighted by injury.

"It's a little bit like Cinderella, the pumpkin turned into a beautiful coach and the other animals turned into wonderful horses," Blokhin told reporters after the game.

"That's what happened to us today. We knew it was a decisive match for us and we turned things around and did a great job."

Striker Andriy Voronin said the victory made amends for the heavy defeat in their opening game.

"After the 4-0 defeat against Spain, when the way we played was embarrassing, we wanted to show we can play," said Voronin. "We had a bit of luck as well.

"Our goal is to survive the group phase. Hopefully we'll go further and then we'll see who we're up against."