Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin had prayed for snow before the World Cup match against Saudi Arabia, but in the end had to do with rain.

A storm broke stifling temperatures of 32 degrees celsius (90F) just before Monday’s game in Hamburg and although the initial heavy rainstorm did subside, showers continued throughout the 4-0 drubbing Ukraine handed the “sons of the desert”.

“I did ask for snow, it’s true,” said Blokhin when asked if the weather conditions had played into the east Europeans’ hands at the expense of their Gulf Arab rivals.

Saudi Arabia is a desert kingdom where summer temperatures can top 50 degrees celsius, often combined with all-encompassing humidity, and while there is substantial rainfall in the southwestern mountainous region, it is a scarcity in much of the rest of the country.

But coach Marcos Paqueta was not prepared to offer the rain as an excuse for the shoddy display his side turned in.

“We knew it could rain and it did rain. The pitch was very wet and the ball travelled very fast,” said Paqueta.

“There’s not much rain in Saudi Arabia and the players are not used to playing on wet grass but that said, it’s not an excuse.”

Redha Tukar, one of the Saudi back four given a torrid time by free-roaming man-of-the-match Maksym Kalinichenko, Oleg Rusov and Andriy Shevchenko, admitted that the team’s error-ridden performance had been down to the rain.

“We played in bad conditions,” he said. “We slipped a lot and that forced us to make some mistakes. That’s how we conceded four goals: from four mistakes.”

But Sami al-Jaber, who would have seen plenty of rain in the English Midlands during his loan spell at Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2000, was quick to disagree.

“We have no excuse,” said the veteran striker of four World Cups.

“We have trained in such conditions and it is not acceptable to talk about the rain as a factor.”

Indeed, while the 23-strong Saudi squad comprises players who ply their trade solely in the Gulf country, most do have experience of playing extensively throughout the region - often in rain - with their clubs in pan-Asian competition.

Kalinichenko did, however, offer a crumb of comfort for his beaten rivals.

“It was very difficult to select the right boots,” admitted the Spartak Moscow player.

Source:Soccer News