Russia ousts Netherlands

By Grahame L. Jones

June 22, 2008 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

It took a Dutchman to beat the Dutch.

Guus Hiddink, the son of a farmer from Varsseveld in the rural eastern Netherlands, used every bit of his tactical genius Saturday to steer Russia to a 3-1 overtime victory over the Dutch and a place in the last four of soccer’s European Championship.

The Russians, inspired as much by 27-year-old playmaker Andrei Arshavin as by the 61-year-old Hiddink, will play the winner of today’s Spain-Italy match in the semifinals in Vienna on Thursday.

The Netherlands had swept through the first round of the quadrennial tournament, brushing aside world champion Italy, as well as France and Romania, and scoring a tournament-high nine goals while conceding only one.

But on Saturday the Dutch ran into a Russian team that had been superbly prepared, one that had received a huge infusion of self-belief from Hiddink and one that used its strengths -- especially speed and counterattacking ability -- to nullify the heavily favored but strangely off-key Netherlands.

Arshavin, who is destined to move from UEFA Cup winner Zenit St. Petersburg to one of Europe’s glamour teams, possibly Arsenal or Chelsea, in the next few weeks, was the best player on the St Jakob Park field in Basel, Switzerland.

The Russians took the lead in the 56th minute when Roman Pavlyuchenko turned Sergei Semak’s cross into the Dutch net after beating defender Joris Mathijsen.

They were still leading with only four minutes to play when striker Ruud van Nistelrooy rushed in at the far post and stooped to head in Wesley Sneijder’s free kick and tie the score at 1-1.

In overtime, however, Russia dominated, and goals in the 112th minute by Dmitry Torbinsky from a cross by Arshavin and in the 116th minute by Arshavin himself earned the tournament’s youngest team its most famous victory to date.

The last time a team from that part of the world advanced as far in a major tournament was when the Soviet Union reached the final of Euro ’88 and lost to the Netherlands.

“One Dutch coach beat 11 talented Dutch players,” Arshavin said during Russia’s postgame celebration. “It’s great happiness for me and for the whole of Russia.”

The match was the last for Dutch Coach Marco van Basten, who will be coaching Ajax Amsterdam next season, and for Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, who is retiring from the national team.

“The Russians deserved to win,” Van Basten said. “They played much better. . . . So I can live with that.”

Jones reported from Los Angeles.

grahame.jones@latimes.com

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March toward a title

The remaining tournament schedule (all times Pacific):

QUARTERFINALS

June 19 at Basel, Switzerland

Germany 3, Portugal 2

June 20 at Vienna

Turkey 1, Croatia 1

(Turkey won 3-1 on penalty kicks)