Netherlands 1-3 Russia

I started this game fully intending to support the Dutch – bottles of Amstel to hand (well, only a short crutch-hop away), and a plate of chips ready to be drowned in mayo. But, as Clive Tyldesley remarked in extra time, you couldn’t help but love the Russians. Again.

Wow. They looked bloody good, didn’t they? What a performance, to so completely outplay the outstanding team of the tournament so far, a team that had comprehensively trounced the finalists from the 2006 World Cup. And whilst the pundits were keen to pick up on a frailty at defending freekicks, the rest of their defending was spot on – the Netherlands had to resort to long-range efforts and thus rarely tested Akinfeev in goal.

But the Russians! They attack in the way that every fan wants their team to go about business; with pace, movement and purpose. Arshavin is their fulcrum but not their sole outlet by any stretch; Zhirkov and Zyryanov are brilliant down the left but in truth they can all play. If their finishing was a bit sharper they would have won by a jaw-dropping margin.

And Pav did it again! Good lad! I love it when a footballing tip comes off. If his blistering shot in extra-time had flown into the top corner instead of cracking against the bar, we’d have had another contender for goal of the tournament – controlling a cross-field ball with his chest, attacking the defender and then firing in a terrific strike from 20 yards. Not even Van Der Sar could get a hand on that, although the rest of his goalkeeping was exceptional and a part in Russia not having the game sewn up long before the final whistle. His left-handed save from Arshavin in the first half was superb. Pavlyuchenko though – sign him up, sign him up, sign him up… This is him pointing to me in the crowd after I defended him on here despite what everyone else said:

            

On the subject of “I told you so”…

*ahem*

“And yet… I can’t help but feel that this is all going to some kind of sadistic German plan. Spain and Holland are burning themselves out too early with their star players firing on all cylinders, while the well-oiled German machine calmly minds the speed limit and bumbles along in first gear, doing just enough. They are going to win this, aren’t they?”

Shit. Be afraid.

Can Russia win this? Inconceivable 24 hours ago. Play like that for two more games though… and the answer is an emphatic “yes”. I can’t quite work out whether the Netherlands were just amazed at a team attacking them after France, Italy and Romania generally just cocked about for 90 minutes, that they didn’t know what to do. Certainly Ooijer and Heitinga were so thoroughly confused by Arshavin that he could probably have won the game on his own. Instead he had to content himself with the killer goal through Edwin’s legs.

One final word on the Russians. Denis Kolodin – that is some right foot you have there, son! Recalling memories of Alan Partridge’s “Shit! He’s got a foot like a traction engine!” commentary, the central defender (yes, defender) let fly no fewer than four times, each one requiring Van Der Sar to fling himself through the air. You’d think the Dutch would have started to close him down after the first couple of sighters had hit the target or whistled just past it, but no.

“30 yards out? Leave him lads, he’ll do nowt from there….oh.”

“40 yards? Pah…”

I reckon if a Dutch player had been caught offside, Arshavin would have tapped the freekick for Kolodin to strike from 70 yards. And he probably still would’ve had Van Der Sar scrambling.

Ok, so we’re one week on since I picked my team of the tournament so far (Boruc, Van Bronckhurst, Ooijer, Pepe, Ramos, Korkmaz, Sneijder, Modric, Deco, Villa, Podolski), so this would be a logical time to pick another one and see if it’s changed. Oddly enough, with one quarter final left to play, only Ramos, Villa and Podolski are still in the tournament. Come tonight and it could just be Lukas. Here we go then:

 

Goalkeeper: Edwin Van Der Sar (Netherlands) - ultimately fruitless, but for a while he kept his country’s hopes alive single-handed. Or double-handed. Good effort.

Left-back: Yuri Zhirkov (Russia) – he looks the business, a tremendous attacking full-back who can defend equally well. I’m sure there’ll be a lot of clubs sniffing around CSKA Moscow when this tournament’s over. Even if he does look a little like an 80s version of Martin Keown. If only he’d jumped on Van Nistelrooy, as my Amstel-swigging chum pointed out.

Centre-half: Christoph Metzelder (Germany) – held firm against Ronaldo et al. This has been a midfielder’s tournament so far with defending very much taking a backseat, but Germany have been tested in just about every game bar the Poland one and held out. His defensive partner, Mertesacker, looks cumbersome by comparison – witness his bearhugging effort in the box against Austria.

Centre-half: Pepe (Portugal) – I’m keeping him in because a) I missed most of the Germany v Portugal game, despite seeing the poor team defending for most of the goals, and b) because I genuinely haven’t seen anyone play better – yet. Maybe I should’ve waited until the game tonight.

Right-back: Philip Lahm (Germany) – if you played this chap with Zhirkov, you wouldn’t need to bother with wingers. Outstanding.

Left midfield: Andrei Arshavin (Russia) – slightly shoe-horned out on the left, but that was where he popped up to most devastating effect last night – teasing and tormenting defenders by threatening to cut inside and then going outside instead. He looks absolutely phenomenal, a dream of a player.

Centre midfield: Michael Ballack (Germany) – slow start, picking up the pace. It’s noticeable that as he’s done so, Germany have improved. Scored a tremendous freekick against Austria and has upped his game from minute-to-minute since. I really do think Germany are going to win this, mainly because of this fella’s improving form.

Centre midfield: Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands) – anonymous last night until about the 80th minute when he tried to drag his team back into it. But he deserves his spot on the basis of tremendous performances against Italy and France -and those goals.

Right midfield: Deco (Portugal) – tempting as it is to put Pigbeer here (sorry, Schweinsteiger), I gather that Deco was still a little genius against Germany despite defeat. Another one who has vastly enhanced his reputation in the space of four games this summer.

Striker: David Villa (Spain) – the tournament’s top scorer despite not having kicked a ball since the last time I penned a Team of the Tourney

Striker: Lukas Podolski (Germany) – no goals against Portugal but his flexibility in being able to function as a left-winger is commendable. He strikes the ball with incredible purity, and was a few inches away from a remarkable goal when he struck that swerving first-timer from about 35 yards in the quarter final. I scored a goal just like that on Friday actually, well sorta, before my ankle went… Pav’s catching up with this fella though.

Right, spaghetti bolognese tonight with the Spain v Italy game, but despite that I’m supporting the Spanish. My sweepstake team, victory will bring me a minimum of five pounds. Viva Espagna!

Until Russia play again… go go go!