Rampant Russians roll over the dozy Dutch

The third of this amazing tournament's quarter-finals managed to live up to the high standards set by the previous two, as the impressive Russians, coached impeccably by the Dutch master, Guus Hiddink, overcame the Netherlands in a superb display of attacking football.

With the creative talents of Andrei Arshavin playing in a slightly withdrawn position and the tireless work of Pavlyuchenko up front, Hiddink's men always look more dangerous than Van Basten's team, who despite the majority of them having had eight days rest, looked tired and lethargic compared to the Russians.

The signs were there from the early stages as Russia carved out several early opportunities and at half-time the corner count was 5 to 1 in their favour with Arshavin and Pavlyuchenko both going close.

After the break, the Dutch had a brief spell of pressure mainly thanks to Robin Van Persie who'd come on as a half-time substitute for the ineffectual Dirk Kuyt, Russia's second striker dribbled and passed his way around John Heitinga, who'd come on as a substitute for the understandably distracted Boularhouz, setting Sergei Semik free on the left. The captain's cross was fast and low, leaving Pavlyuchenko a relatively simple job of sidefooting home on the volley.

Russia continued to create chances but like the watching Arsene Wenger's Arsenal, they were guilty of trying to walk the ball into the net and with only 5 minutes of normal time remaining they were made to rue their succession of misses, when Ruud Van Nistelrooy was left virtually unmarked to head home a Wesley Sneijder free-kick.

In the dying seconds there was time for a bizarre incident with the Russian defender, Kolodin, seemingly sent off for a second bookable offence for fouling the increasingly dangerous, Sneijder, which was immediately rescinded by Spanish ref, Lubos Michel, after he consulted with his assistant and decided that the ball had previously gone over the goal line. The sending off would've been incredibly harsh as replays suggested that Kolodin had not made any contact with the Dutch player.

It would've been easy for the Russians to have been dispirited after letting the Dutch off the hook so late on but in extra-time they continued to press forward and with Van Basten having used all three substitutions, the Netherlands looked as if their only hope was to take the match to penalties (although when you are Dutch, with a penalty record similar to England's, this really isn't a great option).

Russia's second goal came when the Man of the Match, Arshavin danced down the left and flighted a tantalising cross over Van der Sar which Torbinski poked in with a deft touch at the far post, sparking the noisy Russian section of the crowd into ecstatic raptures.

The mercurial Arshavin finally got the goal his display deserved when he wrapped it up four minutes from time, latching on to a throw-in and shooting through Van der Sar's legs.

So my tip for tournament were dispatched with relative ease by a very good looking Russian side and so all three quarter finals have been won by the Group runners up and with the losers all showing that having the luxury afforded by qualifying after two matches and being able to rest players is not necessarily a good thing in a tournament where momentum is all important.