Guus: We did the perfect job
GUUS HIDDINK saw Russia KO his countrymen and
crowed: We outplayed them in every way. Dmitri Torbinsky and Andrei
Arshavin struck late in extra time to give Dutchman Hiddink - a
former Holland boss - a Euro 2008 semi-final spot.
Ruud van Nistelrooy had barely disrupted the Russians'
superiority when his 86th minute sidefoot cancelled out Roman
Pavlyuchenko's opener. And Russia chief Hiddink, 61, said after the
3-1 win: "Usually the Dutch are a team who one cannot outdo
tactically, technically or physically, but we did on all three
counts.
"Of course we realised we couldn't give away too many
free-kicks to them but as you get tired you tend to commit more
fouls. "However, my players responded really well and instead of
relying on the counter-attack they pressed for the winning
goal."
Star man Arshavin said: "The coach said he expected the
Dutch would play very aggressively against us. "But it turned out
that they ran out of breath before we did. At the end the better
Dutchman - our trainer - won.
Team-mate Yuri Zhirkov also saluted his boss - the man
dubbed a "coaching wizard" by the Russian media. Zhirkov said:
"What else can you call him, given that he has taken so many teams
to World Cups and European Championships."
Hiddink, meanwhile, insisted that losing manager Marco
Van Basten, 43, will turn into a successful Holland chief. He said:
"When I was Dutch team manager, around 1995, it was felt in the
federation it was a pity if top players disappeared from the game.
"We felt we could take advantage of some world-class players like
Marco.
"I approached him at the end of his career, but he said
he wasn't sure it was for him and didn't feel he'd make a good
coach. "But that changed later on and he has done a very good job
in a very short period of time."
