June 22, 2008

RUSSIA coach Guus Hiddink became a traitor in his native Holland after his team's 3-1 quarter-final win after extra-time dumped the Dutch out of Euro 2008.

The 61-year-old former Netherlands coach had said he would be happy to be a traitor if his Russia team beat his countrymen, and he got his wish as two goals in extra-time broke Dutch hearts.

Roman Pavlyuchenko opened the scoring for Russia on 56 minutes before Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy headed home an 86th-minute equaliser to give the Dutch a lifeline - and take him alongside Johan Cruyff on 33 goals for the national side.

However, super sub Dmitri Torbinsky grabbed a second in the 112th minute, before Andrei Arshavin settled it with a third on 116 minutes.

"I don't know how far we have come since our preparation for the first match (a 4-1 defeat by Spain) but usually the Dutch are a team who one cannot outdo tactically, technically or physically, but we did on all three counts,'' said Hiddink.

"Of course we realised we couldn't give away too many free kicks to them but as you get tired you tend to commit more fouls.

"However, my players responded really well and instead of relying on the counter-attack they pressed for the winning goal.''

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, this is the first time Russia have made the knockout stages of a major tournament and will contest Friday's (EST) semi-final in Vienna.

But it was heart-break for Holland as the defeat signalled the last game in charge for coach Marco van Basten - who joins Ajax next season on a four-year deal - making his swansong at Euro 2008 after four years in charge.

The former AC Milan striker failed in his bid to bow out out on a high by giving the Netherlands a second European crown to the one he helped win in 1988.

His team had come into the Basel quarter-final with a 100 percent record from Group C having handed out comprehensive defeats to 2006 World Cup finalists France (4-1) and Italy (3-0) en route.

"The Russians played a lot better than we did and deserved their victory,'' said van Basten.

"I can live with the indisputable fact that they were better than us. We delivered some remarkable performances in the first round, but today we were not able to repeat those.''

After Holland defender Khalid Boulahrouz and his wife suffered the tragedy of losing their prematurely born daughter last week, the team wore black armbands, but the result only served to cap a dark week for the Dutch.

Meanwhile, Hiddink has continued his habit of helping international teams punch well above the weight.

The former Netherlands boss guided South Korea to the semi-finals at the 2002 World Cup and Australia to the knockout phase in 2006 just before signing on to coach Russia.

His side opened their Euro 2008 campaign with a 4-1 hammering at the hands of Spain as David Villa hit a hat-trick, but Russia hit back with a 1-0 win over Greece and were impressive in their 2-0 win over Sweden.

Both sides had plenty of chances in the first half.

Russia made a bright start and kept Manchester United goalkeeper Edin van der Sar busy in the first half with Dynamo Moscow defender Denis Kolodin and Pavylyuchenko going close early on.

But the Dutch also threatened on attack with Real Madrid's Wesley Sneijder testing the Russia defence and fellow midfielder Rafael van der Vaart also squandered several chances as it remained 0-0 at the break.

Van Basten brought Arsenal forward Robin van Persie into the fray at the start of the half but the Dutch went behind for the first time in the tournament soon after.

After Arshavin terrorised Sweden in Russia's 2-0 win last week, he blasted in a free kick which forced van der Sar into a diving save, but the shot just carried wide.

Russia opened the scoring when Pavlyuchenko slipped his marker and stabbed home Ivan Saenko's cross on 56 minutes for his third goal of the tournament.

But with time running out, the Dutch made their experience count as striker Nistelrooy headed an 86th-minute equaliser from Sneijder's superb cross to put his side back in the game and take the match to extra-time.

Russia looked down to 10 men when Denis Kolodin was shown the red card, but Slovakian referee Lubos Michel rescinded a second booking for the defender in stoppage time of normal time after a linesman told the official the ball had gone out of play before Kolodin tangled with Wesley Sneijder.

And the goal which ended Dutch hopes came after a pinpoint accurate cross along over the goalmouth from Arshavin was poked home by Torbinsky in the 112th minute.

And Arshavin scored a third just four minutes later as his side will now face Italy or Spain in the semi-final.