Guus Hiddink is one of those men who might be better suited as a motivational speaker or the guy who talks to soldiers before a war. I say this because over the past couple international tournaments he has taken teams who under another coach may be simply happy reaching a major international tournament but under Guus harbor ambitions of going far in them as illustrated by the likes of South Korea and Australia in the previous two World Cups. The next team in this list of overachievers is Russia.After a 4-1 hammering at the hands of Spain many would have written off Russia’s chances of progressing to the next round. Actually, given that Russia was the team which qualified at the expense of England then a surprise or two might be expected but getting out of the group was out of the question.Russia and Guus Hiddink surely proved any doubters wrong, winning the next two games of the group without conceding a goal. A 2-0 win over Greece followed by a similar result against Sweden with a stellar display from one Andrei Arshavin allowed the Russians to progress. Against the Swedish in a match which would determine who would go through as runner’s up in the group behind Spain, Russia displayed a performance with pace, quick movement and the belief that they could do anything, led by the inspirational Arshavin who was coming off a two-match suspension. The difference he made to this team was clearly noted and the questions regarding why Hiddink kept him in the squad whilst knowing he would miss the first two games were emphatically answered.
Could this performance be bettered against a Dutch team which had defeated World Champions Italy 3-0 and World Cup finalists France 4-1? Under Hiddink this team could probably climb Mount Everest in football gear; such is the belief which this man instills into his teams.
The Russians were on top from the get go, which would have been surprising for Holland who had basically dominated the other teams in the Group of Death. The Dutch had no answer for what was essentially the Arshavin show as he dazzled his opponents throughout the match with his pace and quick footwork. Opening gaps in Holland’s defence and drawing foul after foul.
The first goal of the match, scored by the Russians came in the 55th minute came off the boot of Roman Pavlyuchenko after he took full advantage of Sergei Semak's cross from the left side with a placed shot that went just inside of Van der Sar's goal; 1-0 to Russia. Dutch hearts would have fallen until the 86th minute when a Sneijder free kick from the left was put in the back of the net by master poacher Ruud van Nistlerooy; One of Holland’s best players on the night despite being isolated for most of the match.
And so to extra time. The first half didn’t yield much except for a powerful curling shot from Pavlyuchenko which rebounded off the crossbar. It was the 113th minute that saw Russia take the lead again by a superb run and cross from Arshavin finding Torbinski, the super sub who lost his place in the starting eleven due to the return of Arshavin. Marco van Basten’s team still couldn’t find a way to goal and it was lights out 3 minutes later when Arshavin ran onto a throw in to slot the ball between the keeper’s legs and put the icing on the cake as the Russians progressed to the semis. Europe’s elite clubs would definitely have taken note of Arshavin and could be queuing up once the Euros are over to get his signature. Before that however, he and Russia will be hoping to carry on with the dark horse tag and defeat Spain in a Group D rematch. The side that had beaten them 4-1 in the opening game of the group. Hiddink is a smart manager and could find a way to outsmart Aragonés this time in the same manner he outsmarted van Basten. In addition with the sort of form Arshavin displayed in the quarters and final group game I for one would not be begrudging Russia a place in the final come June 29th or even becoming the second underdog in a row to win the European Championships.
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