After a rude awakening in its debut against Spain last week, Ukraine regained a measure of pride Monday by delivering a similar lesson to Saudi Arabia for its first World Cup victory, 4-0.

Where the Ukrainians gave up a goal in the 13th minute against Spain, they came back to score within four minutes against the Saudis. Where their prize striker Andriy Shevchenko looked impotent against the Spaniards' slick defense, this time he both assisted on one score and added his first World Cup goal. Where Ukraine surrendered meekly to the Spaniards, it won by the same score against the outmanned Saudis in Group H.

"It was difficult to lose 4-0, but everyone understood at that stage that the tournament was far from finished, and we had to concentrate on the next two games if we wanted to go through," Shevchenko said. "Ukraine is a strong team and we have to show we are strong.

"The goals came at an important time. It was very good for us to have the first very fast goal at the beginning of the game, and in the second half."

So it didn't take long for Ukraine to get its World Cup bid back on track.

Though Shevchenko was expected to lead his nation on the German grass, it was defender Andriy Rusol who opened the scoring. Off a corner kick by Maxim Kalinichenko in the fourth minute, Rusol's one-timer off his left knee found its way through the legs of Saudi goalkeeper Mabrouk Zayed.

The goal, Ukraine's first of the tournament, prompted coach Oleh Blokhin to scream in approval and violently whip the grass with his towel.

"It's like the tale of Cinderella," Blokhin said. "The pumpkin turned into a beautiful coach and the rats into magnificent horses. That's what happened to us today and we were able to turn things around."

Serhiy Rebrov scored one of the best goals of the tournament with a 35-yard shot in the 36th minute. Zayed might have reached it on time but slipped on the wet grass, letting the ball go into the top corner.

Barely 30 seconds into the second half, Shevchenko got his goal with a header from Kalinichenko's long free kick. The newly signed Chelsea striker, only recently back from a nagging knee injury, appeared in much better form than in Ukraine's loss to Spain where he failed to take a single decent shot.

And Kalinichenko got his own, scoring on a pass from Shevchenko to close the scoring.

The victory came on the anniversary of Blokhin's first of two World Cup goals exactly 24 years ago to the day, in the Soviet Union's 3-0 victory over New Zealand. His second came four years later in a 2-0 loss to Canada.

"This means as a coach I retained the fighting spirit I had as a player," Blokhin said.

Ukraine is the first former Soviet republic other than Russia to qualify for the World Cup; Russia played in 1994 and 2002.

"I think our chances of going all the way are not huge because there are stronger teams, but we will fight," Blokhin said.

Blokhin knew his team had to go on the offensive in the absence of two key defenders, Volodymyr Yesersky to a thigh injury, and Vladyslav Vashchyuk, who served a one-game suspension for a red card he received against Spain.

Spain beat Tunisia 3-1 on Monday night and moved into the second round with six points. Ukraine has three, while Tunisia and Saudi Arabia each have one.

The Saudis didn't manage one shot on goal, yet coach Marcos Paqueta was content.

"Our boys fought the whole game and never gave up," he said. "They tried and tried all game, and when you make your best effort you are satisfied and your conscience is at peace. They should be able to get over this and make a different impression next game."

Saudi Arabia lost with Prince Sultan bin Fahd watching from the VIP box. Saudi Arabia's players prefer sultry temperatures, but the hot, muggy daytime conditions they wished for turned into wind and rain just an hour before the match, much to the Ukrainians' delight.