Russia gets final quarterfinal spot; Spain wins

Source: Agencies  |   2008-6-19  |     ONLINE EDITION

RUSSIA claimed the final quarterfinal spot at the European Championship yesterday, beating Sweden 2-0 in Group D to set up coach Guus Hiddink with a match against the Netherlands, his home country and former team.

Roman Pavlyuchenko and Andrei Arshavin scored a goal each in Innsbruck to put the Russians through to the knockout round. Hiddink, a Dutchman who took over Russia after leading Australia to the second round of the World Cup two years ago, maintained his perfect record of advancing through the group stage at major tournaments.

"This is a tremendous victory," Hiddink said.

Greece avoided becoming the first defending champion to fail to score a goal at the European tournament, but still lost to already-qualified Spain 2-1. Dani Guiza and Ruben de la Red scored a goal each in Salzburg after Angelos Charisteas had given the 2004 champions the lead.

The quarterfinals start Thursday with Portugal facing Germany in Basel, Switzerland. Croatia and Turkey then face each other in Vienna on Friday, and the Netherlands plays Russia on Saturday in Basel. Spain faces Italy in the final quarterfinal match on Sunday in Vienna.

The Euro 2008 final is set for June 29 at Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna.

Hiddink led the Netherlands to the semifinals at the 1998 World Cup in France. The Dutchman then guided co-host South Korea to the same stage at the 2002 World Cup, and followed that up by taking Australia to the knockout round in Germany.

Pavlyuchenko gave Russia the lead by side-footing in a cross from Aleksandr Anyukov in the 24th minute. Arshavin, who returned to the lineup after missing the first two matches of the tournament through suspension, added another in the 50th after picking up a pass from Yuri Zhirkov in a fast Russian counterattack and scoring with a right-footed shot in the 50th.