Russia: heads held high

The Russia players slumped when the final whistle signalled the end of their campaign on Thursday, but when the dust settles they can savour plenty of reasons to be cheerful.

Attacking football
This has, after all, been the most successful campaign at a major tournament by a Russian side since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Never before have Russia got out of their group, let alone reached the semi-finals. Never before have they played such attacking, fast and attractive football as the kind introduced by Guus Hiddink. "There is only one winner playing this kind of football, even though you don't always win titles," the Dutch coach said before his side's 3-0 semi-final defeat against Spain on Thursday.

Achievement
Russia's achievement in reaching the last four was all the more remarkable given that key striker Pavel Pogrebnyak was forced out of the squad on the eve of the tournament through injury. That coupled with star-man Andrei Arshavin's two-match suspension left Russia fans fearing the worst. The mood in the camp darkened further after kicking off with a comprehensive defeat by Spain in Group D. "Our thoughts were catastrophic," goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev admitted. "We lost the first game 4-1, what could we do? Psychology is key at a time like that." Russia had the youngest squad at the tournament, but it was a pair of old hands that steadied the ship in their next match against Greece, 32-year-old captain Sergei Semak setting up 30-year-old Konstantin Zyryanov for the only goal of the game.

Arshavin praise
The results of a hard three-week training camp in the build-up to the tournament were beginning to pay off, but even then you could not have predicted what was to follow. It was the return of Arshavin from suspension that really brought Russia to life. He scored one and Roman Pavlyuchenko the other as they beat Sweden 2-0 in their final Group D game, the charismatic, lightning-quick striker stealing the show with a scintillating performance. "The surprise for me was that I'd never seen him before, and from the first seconds of the match when I started to watch him [against Sweden], I was full of admiration. He's a great player," Spain midfielder Xavi Hernández said, summing up the views of many.

Attacking drive
Russia exceeded expectations by getting out of their group, and few backed them to then beat the in-form Netherlands. Hiddink's side, though, rose to the occasion. Arshavin, Pavlyuchenko and energetic full-back Yuri Zhirkov all shone as Russia's lively, relentless attacking style paid dividends. Pavlyuchenko opened the scoring on 56 minutes and though the Netherlands forced extra time, Russia's attacking drive prevailed, Dmitri Torbinski then Arshavin scoring to crown a startling 3-1 win. Instead of celebrating after scoring Russia's third, Arshavin looked at the camera, opened his arms and shrugged as if to say: "We're just as surprised as you are". Back home Russia's football fans celebrated like they had never done before.

'Outplayed'
Having scaled the heights, Russia came crashing down against Spain. "The bronze medals we were given in the locker room were the limit for us," said 22-year-old goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, one of the stars of the tournament. "Today we could not have hoped for more. We were outplayed." He then looked straight into the camera lens and smiled. Just as the Russian fans cheered their team off the pitch at the end, Akinfeev was making it clear that regardless of the result at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion, UEFA EURO 2008™ had been an unforgettable journey for Russia. Guus Hiddink and his side have every reason to smile as they head home.