The match that gave the Russian their qualifier saw the resurging of the ex-captain Arshavin shine far above the level. The Zenit forward was certainly one of the players to watch but his temptestive actions in the last Russian friendly before the EURO gave him a two- match ban.
The match was quite amusing. In the first minutes the Russian side was performing several attacking opportunities among Zhirkov's side sentries. The game performed by the Russians was merely touching. And in this way Pavlyuchenko lead the russians through a good definition after an Anyukov service. Pavlyuchenko has really impresed me so far; in this EURO he has played the role of a perfect supportive striker, the one that drags the defenders and that appears in the space. By the 38' the Spartak player hit the woodwork twice, while the alarming statisctic proved the abuse of possesion by the former Soviet side. The dynamic first half saw the Swedish keeper Isaksson very busy.
Rafael "Guama" Puente, former Atlante goalkeeper, makes a wide array of interesting comments and the ones that he made about the Russian style as the anthitesis of Oranje's in the 70's were really interesting. But immediately the star that stole the show appeared from the dark; Andrei Arshavin scored a fine goal after a good play on a devastating counter-strike. The inertia of hte match forced the Swede team to had the possesion but it was regained by the Russians after a wide Zlatan shot at 77'. The game ended on the final childish Swede attempts to make a counte on a very impressive Russian defensive midfiel block.
In other accounts the Spanish National side became the third team to reach the 9 points in the qualification stage. The Spaniards came from behind and beat the unfashionable Greek side 2-1.
Quarter Finals
Holland v. Russia
Spain v. Italy
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