Arshavin inspires Russia to quarter-finals
Russia celebrate progress to quarter-finals at Euro 2008
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Wednesday, 18, Jun 2008 09:47
Russia booked a place in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 with a convincing 2-0 victory over Sweden.
Gus Hiddink's side knew that only a win would guarantee their progression in the tournament, while the Swedes just needed a point to join Spain in qualification from group D.
After a slow start, Russia welcomed back Andrei Arshavin and the playmaker quickly took control of the game as they outclassed a tired and overwhelmed Sweden in all areas of the Innsbruck pitch.
However, though they produced some of the slickest passing football seen in the tournament so far, Russia lacked a decisive finish, with Arshavin glancing a header wide and then failing to connect with a decent opportunity, and they had to wait until the half-hour mark to take the lead.
Igor Semshov was played in down the right channel before squaring the ball to Aleksandr Anyukov, who in turn set up Roman Pavlyuchenko for a cool finish.
Despite being distinctly second best from the start, Sweden nearly came up with an immediate reply, but veteran striker Henrik Larsson could only head Anders Svensson's cross on to the bar.
Russia all but sealed the game just five minutes into the second half as Arshavin gets a deserved goal as he finished off a ruthless counter-attack.
Though the tournament has already seen Turkey produce a dramatic comeback from the same deficit, Sweden's lack of imagination made such an outcome unlikely and were lucky to go out at 2-0 as the Russians continued to pour forward on the break.
Russian will now face Holland as they make their first appearance in the knockout stages of a major tournament since the dissolution of the USSR.