A storm broke stifling temperatures of 32 degrees celsius 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."

Sami al-Jaber, who would have seen plenty of rain in the English Midlands during his loan spell at Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2000, said, "We have no excuse."

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

Blokhin, meanwhile, hailed his players for bouncing back from their 4-0 hammering suffered at the hands of Spain to deliver their own footballing masterclass against the Saudis.

Ukraine are now firmly back in the running to qualify for the last 16 from Group H, with their third pool game against Tunisia on Friday.

"I would like to thank my team who bounced back from the bad defeat to Spain," Blokhin said.

"The players today carried out the coaches' advice, which was not to give the Saudi players any space or any ball," the former Dynamo Kiev and Soviet Union star said.

"Saudi Arabia found our dead ball situations difficult and also the short passing game in midfield.

"The objective was to prevent the Saudis getting any ball in the midfield, and our team was able to counter-attack very quickly."

Blokhin, however, was typically reserved when talking about his team's chances of qualifying for the knockout phase.

He said that the win over Saudi Arabia, combined with the morale-draining loss to Spain, would take some time to recover from.