Russia beats Netherlands for semifinal berth

Russia, coached by former Netherlands manager Guus Hiddink, will face either Spain or Italy in the semifinals on Thursday in Vienna, Austria.

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 goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar.

Van Nistelrooy had temporarily saved the Dutch late in the match, proving no one is more lethal from close range.

From a free kick by Rafael van der Vaart, he wrestled away from Sergei Ignashevich and scored with a diving header at the far post.

In extra time, the inexperienced Russians hung in and scored their third straight upset victory. And after Germany had beaten the sparkling Portugal, Turkey edged surging Croatia, another stunner was in the making.

There were only a few thousand Russians within a sea of orange among the 38,374 fans, but they kept chanting “Rus-sia” long after the tens of thousands of oranje fans had fallen silent.

Pavlyuchenko scored his third goal of the tournament in the 56th when Sergei Semak found space in the center to send a low cross into the heart of the penalty area, where the Spartak Moscow striker beat Joris Mathijsen and scored into the near corner.

Van der Sar, who had kept the Dutch into the game up to that point and was by far the team’s best player, 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 result, Hiddink further added to his global credentials. He led South Korea to a surprising semifinal place at the 2002 World Cup and Australia into the second round four years later, two stunning surprises.

Now, his latest team is two games away from adding the European Championship.

And all the omens were against them. The Dutch had played the best football in the tournament, the stadium was full of opposing fans and his players had been drained in Wednesday’s do-or-die game against Sweden.

Yet, he did it again.

On the other side, coach Marco van Basten coached his last game for the Netherlands. He moves to Ajax now that the tournament is over for his team.

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