Falling Dutchmen

Russia had the right Dutch coach, and the better team. The long-shot Russians, led by coach Guus Hiddink...

Russia had the right Dutch coach, and the better team. The long-shot Russians, led by coach Guus Hiddink, scored two goals in extra time to advance to the semi-finals of Euro 2008 with a 3-1 upset win over the Netherlands on Saturday.

Hiddink had already guided his own country to the World Cup semi-finals in 1998 and done the same with South Korea four years later. So Saturday8217;s win only further enhanced his standing as one of the world8217;s greatest coaches 8212; a reputation built on getting far in major tournaments.

8220;The better Dutchman, our coach, won today,8221; said Andrei Arshavin, who set up the winning goal and scored in extra time.

On Saturday, Hiddink took an inexperienced squad and let them dominate a bevy of rested world stars from the opening minute to the last of extra time for the biggest upset yet in a tournament defined by them.

Dimitry Torbinski and Arshavin scored within five minutes of each other in the second half of extra time. Roman Pavlyuchenko also scored for Russia, while Ruud van Nistelrooy scored for the Dutch in the 86th.

8216;Miracle8217;

8220;I don8217;t want to use big words but it is almost a miracle,8221; Hiddink said after hobbling out of his dugout to dance with his players. 8220;It is unbelievable. 8230; They outplayed tactically and physically the Dutch.8221;

Coming off a draining do-or-die game on Wednesday against Sweden, the Russians were stronger than the Dutch stars who had sat out the last group game.

It showed in the second half of extra time.

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8220;We didn8217;t play football, and never got into the game,8221; Netherlands coach Marco van Basten said. 8220;Normally we should have been in better shape than the Russians. We didn8217;t see that.8221;

Torbinski surged toward the far post in the 112th minute and hit a deep cross from Arshavin into the goal with the outside of his left foot. Arshavin scored the final goal in the 116th when his shot deflected off John Heitinga and went through the legs of 8216;keeper Edwin van der Sar.

Transient hope

Van Nistelrooy had temporarily saved the Dutch late, proving no one is more lethal from close range. From a free kick by Wesley Sneijder, he wrestled himself away from Sergei Ignashevich and scored with a diving header at the far post.

There were only a few thousand Russians within a sea of orange among the 38,374 fans, but they kept chanting 8220;Rus-sia8221; long after the oranje fans had fallen silent. Pavlyuchenko scored his third goal of the tournament in the 56th when Sergei Semak found space in the centre to send a low cross into the heart of the penalty area, where the Spartak Moscow striker beat Mathijsen and scored into the near corner.

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Van der Sar, who had kept the Dutch in the game up to that point, had no answer. And again there was no answer when Pavlyuchenko broke free on the right in the 96th, cut inside and shot past Van der Sar. This time the ball crashed onto the bar. With the loss, Van der Sar also ended his international career.

It could even have been worse for the Dutch. In the 107th, Yuri Zhirkov wanted a penalty when he swept past Heitinga, surged towards Van der Sar before Heitinga put his hand on his shoulder and stepped on his foot. Referee Lubos Michel disagreed with Zhirkov, motioning for the Russian to get up off the ground.

Russia reached their first semi-final since they became an independent state in 1992 following the break-up of the Soviet Union. The Soviets lost to the Netherlands in the 1988 final and won the inaugural European Championship in 1960.