Hiddink revels in the role of 'Dutch traitor'

Dutchman Guus Hiddink masterminded his adopted country's 3-1 extra time win over his homeland with a performance that saw Russia beat the Netherlands at their own slick-passing game.

While the 61-year-old got his tactics spot on, counterpart Marco van Basten looked on in anguish as his Dutch team failed to reproduce the sparkling form that yielded three wins in a row in the group stages, including one each against 2006 World Cup finalists Italy and France.

Hiddink's instructions were carried out brilliantly by man of the match Andrei Arshavin, who created one goal and scored another. Before the tournament Hiddink said he thought long and hard about whether to include Arshavin in the squad because he was suspended for the opening two Group D games against Spain and Greece.

But his decision was fully vindicated as Arshavin ran the show and along with Roman Pavlyuchenko and Konstantin Zyryanov helped put Hiddink's plan into action and secure the victory that means Russia will progress to the semi-final in Vienna on Thursday.

Arshavin said: "One Dutch coach beat 11 talented Dutch players. It's a great happiness for me and for the whole of Russia.

"The coach said he expected the Dutch would play very aggressively against us but it turned out they ran out of breath before we did. At the end the better Dutchman, our coach, won."

Hiddink heaped praise on the elfin-faced little magician, a thorn in Rangers' side as Zenit St Petersburg won the Uefa Cup final last month and who is sure to have made Europe's biggest clubs sit up and take notice in the last week.

"He wasn't even really match fit but he has tremendous skill," said Hiddink. "He knows how to dribble at defenders so that they can run with him but can't attack him. Nature gave him that gift." Russia sorely missed Arshavin in their opening two Group D matches for which he was suspended after being sent off for kicking an opponent in a qualifier with Andorra last November. It was worth the wait. The 27-year-old inspired his team to a 2-0 win over Sweden and was the architect of their triumph over the Dutch by setting up the second goal and scoring the third himself.

Hiddink noted that Arshavin, the 2006 Russian Player of the Year, has a reputation for being awkward. "He has a name as a difficult human being but not to me," the Dutchman said. "It's just nice to work with this guy as he's a natural winner."

Hiddink, who cast himself in the role of 'Dutch traitor' before the game, was in charge of the Netherlands when they reached the 1998 World Cup semi-finals. He also led South Korea to the last four in the 2002 edition and guided unfancied Australia to the last 16 of the World Cup two years ago.

Exactly 20 years ago to the day Hiddink was among those who celebrated Van Basten's winning goal against West Germany in Hamburg that put the Dutch into the final of Euro 1988 which they went on to win against the Soviet Union four days later thanks to Ruud Gullit's header and Van Basten's memorable volley. But the 43-year-old Van Basten, who takes over as head coach of Ajax Amsterdam next season, never looked like celebrating the anniversary with victory.

Although his team blitzed their way through the group stages with nine goals in wins against Italy, France and Romania, the Dutch looked sluggish with defensive midfielder Sergei Semak nullifying playmaker Wesley Sneijder. The Dutch did create their own chances in a game that produced 54 attempts on goal, Van Basten's men lacked the spark and invention they showed earlier in the finals.

Instead the slick-passing Russians swept from one end of the field to the other. While Arshavin and Pavlyuchenko dominated, a less graceful member of the Russian side also made his mark on the match. Lumbering defender Denis Kolodin was a relieved man when the referee changed his mind after showing him a red card.

Slovakian referee Lubos Michel rescinded a second booking for the defender in stoppage time of normal time after a linesman told the official the ball had gone out of play before Kolodin tangled with Wesley Sneijder.

Despite it being rare for a referee to go back on a red-card decision, Kolodin said it had happened to him before.

"It is the second time this has happened to me," he said, although he could not remember when.

Kolodin's relief at staying on the pitch was marred by the fact he will still miss the semi-final against Spain or Italy because he was already on a yellow card from the previous game. He refused to get too down, saying the main thing was the team were through.

"Maybe I will still have another game to play," said the defender, who gave a stunning display of long-range shooting in the first half when he twice came close to beating Edwin van der Sar with piledrivers from distance.

After the match, English journalists allowed themselves to cast their mind back to Wembley last autumn when Russia were thumped 3-0.

How did Hiddink explain that night? "I think England had a very good day that day – maybe the only one they had!" responded the wily Dutchman.

Netherlands: Van der Sar, Boulahrouz (Heitinga 54), Ooijer, Mathijsen, Van Bronckhorst, De Jong, Engelaar (Afellay 61), Kuyt (Van Persie 46), Van der Vaart, Sneijder, van Nistelrooy.

Russia: Akinfeev, Aniukov, Ignashevich, Kolodin, Zhirkov, Semak, Zyryanov, Semshov (Bilyaletdinov 69), Saenko (Torbinsky 81), Arshavin, Pavlyuchenko (Sychev 115).

Taken from the Scotsman