Russia coach Guus Hiddink got the result he wanted to become a traitor in his native Netherlands after his team's 3-1 quarter-final win after extra-time dumped the Dutch out of UEFA EURO 2008.
The 61-year-old former Holland boss had said he would be happy to be a Dutch traitor if his Russian team beat his countrymen and two goals in extra time broke Dutch hearts on Saturday.
Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy had headed home an 86th minute equaliser to give the Dutch a life-line - and take him alongside Johan Cruyff on 33 goals for the national side - but super sub Dmitri Torbinsky grabbed a second in the 112th minute, before the outstanding Andrei Arshavin settled it with a third on 116 minutes.
"I don't know how far we have come since our preparation for the first match (a 4-1 defeat by Spain) but usually the Dutch are a team who one cannot outdo tactically, technically or physically, but we did on all three counts," said Hiddink, who has also taken Korea Republic and Holland to FIFA World Cup™ semi-finals in 2002 and 1998 respectively.
"Of course we realised we couldn't give away too many free kicks to them but as you get tired you tend to commit more fouls," he added."However, my players responded really well and instead of relying on the counter-attack they pressed for the winning goal."
Netherlands coach Marco van Basten held his hands up and admitted the better side had prevailed. "The Russians played a lot better than we did and deserved their victory," conceded van Basten, who steps down to take over at Ajax Amsterdam. "I can live with the indisputable fact that they were better than us.
"We delivered some remarkable performances in the first round, but, today (Saturday), we were not able to repeat those."
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, this is the first time Russia have made the knock-out stages of a major tournament and will contest next Thursday's semi-final in Vienna.
But it was heart-break for Holland as the defeat signalled the last game in charge for Dutch coach Marco van Basten - who joins Ajax next season on a four-year deal - who made his swansong at EURO 2008 after four years in charge. The former AC Milan striker failed in his bid to bow out out on a high by giving the Netherlands a second European crown to the one he helped win in 1988.
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