Russia into semis after win over Dutch

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By Mark Ledsom

BASEL (Reuters) - Russia grabbed an unexpected place in the Euro 2008 semi-finals with a thoroughly deserved 3-1 extra-time win over Netherlands on Saturday.

Goals from substitute Dmitry Torbinsky and playmaker Andrei Arshavin finished off a subdued Netherlands team in the extra period after the sides were level at 1-1 on 90 minutes.

Russia had taken a deserved lead through Roman Pavlyuchenko 11 minutes into the second half but were pegged back by a Ruud van Nistelrooy header with just four minutes remaining.

The Russians will face Spain or Italy in the semi-finals in Vienna on Thursday while frustrated Dutch coach Marco van Basten now moves into club management with Ajax Amsterdam.

He must still be trying to work out how his game plan failed although he did come up against Russia’s Dutch manager Guus Hiddink, who is no stranger to reaching tournament semi-finals.

"One Dutch coach beat 11 talented Dutch players," said Arshavin. "It’s great happiness for me and for the whole of Russia. It was a hard game but we can’t complain.

"The main thing is we won. We expected Netherlands to play aggressively but they seemed to stop before we did," he added.

The Dutch came into the match at St Jakob Park as strong favourites having taken maximum points in the group stage after setting .....continued below

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OPENING EXCHANGES

Russia had the better of the opening exchanges but as the first half wore on, Netherlands had several chances with Ruud van Nistelrooy missing three decent opportunities.

He just failed to get an outstretched foot on to an inswinging Rafael van der Vaart free kick and was then denied twice at close range by goalkeeper Igor Akinfeyev.

The Russians continued to look dangerous on the break and centre back Denis Kolodin kept Edwin van der Sar busy in the Dutch goal with some fierce long range efforts.

The second half started as tensely as the first until Russia broke the deadlock with a well worked move down the left.

Sergei Semak was the provider, playing a perfectly weighted pass to Pavlyuchenko who shook off defender Joris Mathijsen before firing a left-foot shot into the bottom corner.

Netherlands attempted to press forward but squandered further chances, most notably when Robin van Persie wasted a 72nd minute free kick from the edge of the area.

With even the normally boisterous Dutch fans starting to despair, Van Nistelrooy stole in at the far post to head home a Wesley Sneijder free kick and send the match into extra time.

Russia again looked sharpest as the game got underway again and were unlucky not to restore their lead in the 97th minute when Pavlyuchenko struck the bar with a fierce strike.

But Russia’s relentless pressure soon bore fruit as Torbinsky made it 2-1 after 112 minutes when he stabbed home a perfect cross from the excellent Arshavin at the far post.

Playmaker Arshavin then finished off the Dutch himself four minutes later with a low right-foot shot inside the area that flew past Van der Sar with the aid of a slight deflection.

(Editing by Ken Ferris)