Guus does it again with Russia at Euro 2008
June 19, 2008
Guus Hiddink is a master coach. In past coaching assignments he has taken Holland and South Korea to the World Cup semis. He coached Australia to the second round in the 2006 World Cup where the Socceroos were unlucky to lose to Italy.
Now at Euro 2008 Hiddink has again worked his magic to see his current team, Russia advance to the quarterfinals. The Russians will next meet the team from Hiddink’s country, Holland.
Sweden and Russia went into the final match in the group stage knowing a draw for Sweden would take them through. Russia needed to win.
Russia scored a goal in each half to setup a 2-0 win. The first goal came after a good exchange of passes down the right side. At the end of the movement it was Roman Pavlyuchenko who shot past the Swedish keeper to score.
At the other end of the field a glancing header that Larsson helped on its way to the goal struck the bar. Just a couple of inches lower and it may have been Sweden who got the draw that they required.
In the second half several more shots came off the post. In the end it was Russia who again found the back of the net. This time it was from a Swedish long ball out of defence that the Russians quickly moved down field with a series of crisp passes. At the end of the movement Andrei Arshavin directed the ball past keeper Isaksson.
Arshavin was Huddink’s trump card. He had missed the earlier matches as he served out a suspension. The injection of him into the match sparked Russia and in the end it was a comfortable victory.
Russia advanced to the Euro 2008 finals at the expense of England. They will now face the Netherlands in what shapes up as a classic encounter. We will see the Dutch master coach guide his adopted team against his country of birth. Anything can happen.
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