Hiddink plots Dutch downfall

Guus Hiddink will attempt to mastermind the downfall of his native Netherlands when Russia take on the high-flying Group C winners in Basel in the third UEFA EURO 2008™ quarter-final.

• Hiddink was in charge of the Netherlands team that reached the semi-finals of the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France but will put sentiment to one side as he looks to lead Russia to their first semi-final since the break-up of the USSR.

• The contest also stirs memories of Marco van Basten's famous volleyed strike in the Netherland's 2-0 victory against the Soviet Union in the 1988 UEFA European Championship final. That triumph completed a Dutch double that summer following the European Champion Clubs' Cup success of a PSV Eindhoven side coached by Hiddink.

• Dutch fans will have gained confidence that it could be their year again after their team advanced with three wins and the best goal statistics of the group stage, having scored nine and conceded one. However, Oranje supporters will not want to dwell on the fact no team since France in 1984 has won all their group games and gone on to lift the trophy.

• They opened with a 3-0 victory against Italy – Ruud van Nistelrooy (26), Wesley Sneijder (31) and Giovanni van Bronckhorst (79) the scorers – and then achieved an equally emphatic success against France, winning 4-1 on a night Dirk Kuyt (9), Robin van Persie (59), Arjen Robben (72) and Sneijder (90+2) all found the net. Having already secured first place in the toughest-looking section, Van Basten's men underlined their credentials by defeating Romania 2-0 through Klaas Jan Huntelaar (54) and Van Persie (87).

• In contrast Russia started badly with a 4-1 loss to Spain. David Villa (29, 44, 75) struck a hat-trick and Cesc Fàbregas added a fourth in added time, with Roman Pavlyuchenko's 86th-minute reply scant consolation. Russia revived their hopes with a 1-0 victory against Greece – Konstantin Zyryanov (33) the scorer – and then beat Sweden 2-0 through goals from Pavlyuchenko (24) and Andrei Arshavin (50) to claim second place in Group D.

• This is the first time that Russia have negotiated the group stage of a major tournament – at the fifth attempt – but continues Hiddink's record of never having fallen at the first hurdle following earlier success with the Netherlands, Korea Republic and Australia.

• Russia have not reached the quarter-finals since the collapse of the Soviet Union. As part of the USSR, they reached the last eight or better of the 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1976 competitions.

• The Netherlands are in the quarter-finals for the fourth successive UEFA European Championship. They lost to France at EURO '96™ but overcame Yugoslavia at UEFA EURO 2000™ and Sweden in UEFA EURO 2004™ – although they lost in the semi-finals on each occasion.

• The Netherlands and Russia have met only once before, in a friendly in Amsterdam last year. The Dutch were 4-1 winners with goals from Ryan Babel (68), Sneijder (71), Joris Mathijsen (80) and Rafael van der Vaart (89 pen) while Vladimir Bystrov (77) mustered Russia's sole reply.

• The teams for that match on 7 February 2007 were:
Netherlands: Maarten Stekelenburg, Kew Jaliens, Joris Mathijsen, Wilfred Bouma, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Denny Landzaat (Wesley Sneijder 46), Nigel de Jong (David Mendes da Silva 63), Clarence Seedorf (Tim de Cler 78), Rafael van der Vaart, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (Klaas Jan Huntelaar 78), Dirk Kuyt (Ryan Babel 46).
Russia: Igor Akinfeev, Aleksandr Anyukov, Denis Kolodin, Aleksei Berezutski (Vasili Berezutski 70), Yuri Zhirkov, Vladimir Bystrov, Igor Semshov, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (Dmitri Sychev 45), Ivan Saenko, Yegor Titov (Evgeni Aldonin 58), Andrei Arshavin (Roman Pavlyuchenko 72). 

• Hiddink had previously coached Australia in a friendly match against the Netherlands in Rotterdam in June 2006 with Tim Cahill's equaliser (54) earning the Socceroos a draw following Van Nistelrooy's tenth-minute opener.

• Hiddink was Netherlands coach between 1994 and 1998 and oversaw their EURO '96™ campaign, where they reached the quarter-finals before losing on penalties to France. Two summers later, Hiddink's Oranje went a step further, reaching the last four of the World Cup before suffering further shoot-out heartache against Brazil.

• The most famous goal of Netherlands coach Van Basten's career was his 54th-minute strike against the USSR that secured the Henri Delaunay trophy 20 years ago. Following Ruud Gullit's first-half header, Van Basten converted a cross from an improbable angle as Rinus Michels' team were crowned European champions on 25 June 1988.

• Van Basten was subsequently in the Netherlands team held 0-0 by the CIS – or Commonwealth of Independent States, of which Russia was a part – in the first round of EURO '92.

• Netherlands midfielder Van der Vaart scored past Russia goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev in a 3-2 victory for his German club Hamburger SV over PFC CSKA Moskva in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League group stage. Dutch defender Mathijsen was also in Hamburg's side that night while Russia midfielder Yuri Zhirkov found the net for CSKA.

• Russian internationals Arshavin, Zyryanov and Aleksandr Anyukov were in the FC Zenit St. Petersburg team that drew 1-1 with Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup group stage. The trio, and Vyacheslav Malafeev and Roman Shirokov, went on to lift the UEFA Cup with Zenit in May under the guidance of Dutch coach Dick Advocaat.

• Dutch forward Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink was in the Celtic FC team that defeated FC Spartak Moskva in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round last August. Vennegoor of Hesselink missed a penalty in added time in the second leg but then converted a spot-kick as Celtic prevailed on penalties after a 2-2 aggregate draw. Spartak's team featured Russia's Bystrov, Dmitri Torbinski, and forward Pavlyuchenko who scored a goal in both matches.

• The Netherlands have a poor record in penalty shoot-outs, their only victory in five attempts coming against Sweden in the quarter-finals of UEFA EURO 2004™. Previously they had suffered defeats by Denmark (EURO '92), France (EURO '96™), Brazil (1998 World Cup) and Italy (UEFA EURO 2000™).

• Russia, by contrast, have never participated in a penalty shoot-out.

• The winners of this tie will meet the winners of the quarter-final tie between the Group D winners Spain and Italy, the runners-up in Group C in the second semi-final, at Vienna's Ernst-Happel-Stadion on Thursday 26 June. The winners of that game will be designated as the away team for the final in Vienna on 29 June.