NED 1-3 RUS: Hiddink Downs Dutch

Hello to all. Sorry I am a little late on this blog. I’m just sharing my thoughts on the Netherlands-Russia quarterfinal.

First of all, the Russian team has experienced tremendous progress and achievment by reaching the last four at a major tournament.

The Russian attack was probably the best of the tournament so far. The midfield did very well to get the ball foraward with through Semshov and Bilyaletdinov. Arshavin was Russia’s talisman who marshalled the attack and goals. Pavlyuchenko did well in the center of the attack. I should also mention Semak provided a perfect pass to Pavlyuchenko for the first goal.

I also have to say that the defense did very well by contributing to the attack. Zhirkov and Anyukov did well in defence to stop the Dutch attack and quickly get the ball forward. Zhirkov and Anyukov also did well on their flanks and Denis Kolodin rifled quite a few shots to keep van der Saar busy. It seemed as though the entire Russian team were involved in the playmaking or goalscoring. But regardless they were able to stop Nistelrooy, Sneijder, and van der Vaart.

I do have to say that the dutch did not look too enthusiastic to play the game. They certianly did not have the speed from the games agianst Italy, France, and Romania. I think that they also suffered from a bit of complacency becuase the some pockets of the Dutch media starting talking about facing Italy or Spain in the semi-finals.

In the end Guus Hiddink did what he has done with Australia and South Korea. He made Russia one of the forces at Euro 2008.

This is all I have to say. Sorry for the lateness and I am looking to read your thoughts and comments.