The Russian Surprise

The Euro Championships of 2008 has produced some fantastic games and have led to some wonderful revelations in terms of individual and collective talent. While there have been plenty of fabulous performances, the team that has surprised one and all has been Russia.

When Russia entered the tournament, they were considered to be rank outsiders to even qualify from Group D. But, Guus Hiddink’s outfit has played some superb football and demonstrated grit which has led them to the semi finals of the tournament.

Unlike Greece in 2004, Russia have been incredibly entertaining to watch and have some superb individual talent.

The likes of Andrei Arshavin, Roman Pavlyuchenko, and Yuri Zhirkov have demonstrated their talent at this tournament and have, without a doubt, put themselves in the shop window with Arshavin already being linked with a move to Arsenal, Barcelona, and Milan.

Guus Hiddink’s tactical prowess has also been clearly demonstrated in Euro 2008. He has led the likes of Netherlands, South Korea, Australia, and now Russia out of the group stages of major tournaments—clearly this proves that his previous achievements were no fluke.

Russia couldn’t have started the tournament in a worse manner when they lost to Spain 4-1 in Innsbruck. The team looked out of depth and the defense was all over the place.

Hiddink, though, stuck to his guns and even though Arshavin was not going to be available for their second game against Greece (due to suspension) he made two changes, the most notable one being Sergei Ignashevich—the CSKA Moscow captain has been fantastic since then along with his defensive partner, Denis Kolodin.

Russia began an unlikely string of results with the defeat of holders Greece 1-0 at Salzburg. It was not the most breathtaking performance, but it was just enough until Arshavin came into the fray and destroyed Sweden in a surprise 2-0 victory.

Russia qualified out of Group D, but were still rank outsiders to get through the quarterfinals.

Playing the in-form Netherlands may have been a daunting task for most teams, but not Russia—they were awe inspiring and produced the result of the tournament, defeating the Netherlands 3-1 in the process.

Guus Hiddink’s role in that game cannot be underestimated. Being Dutch, he understood the manner in which they would approach the game and made the two fullbacks, Aleksandr Anyukov and Yuri Zhirkov attack so far forward that it didn’t allow Wesley Sneijder and Dirk Kuyt to get into the game.

This left Ruud van Nistelrooy isolated and the Dutch were stifled and got a taste of their own medicine in the game.

What Russia also did in that game that no other team (including France and Italy) did was that they scored first. This didn’t allow the Dutch to play their counter-attacking game and ultimately led to their demise.

Arshavin (how many times have I mentioned him?) inspired Russia to a famous win.

They now face Spain who beat them convincingly in their first game.

Russia have won over many hearts and minds with their football and most neutrals would probably support them. Nobody held a candle for them at the start of the tournament, but the Euro’s have been known to produce their fair share of surprises.

Guus Hiddink said after their upset over the Netherlands, "I don't want to use big words but it is almost a miracle."

Clearly, Guus Hiddink is underestimating his team’s quality, but make no mistake—if Russia do continue their surprise run and lift the Euro 2008 title, it will be nothing short of just that, a miracle.

This article was originally published on Goal.com by Shyam Parthasarathi.