Semi-Final Preview
Spain vs. Russia
Asked to comment after Greece’s win at Euro 2004 coach Otto Rehhagel said, “First it was about attitude and discipline; then it was organization; then it was results; then it was about self belief; and then it was about the result, the result and the result.”

If Spain goes on to win this tournament Coach Luis Aragones might express similar sentiments. Long dismissed as bottlers and underachievers, Aragones has worked long and hard to reshape the mindset of the Spanish squad. The acid test came last Sunday against World Champions Italy.

We have become use to Spain starting tournaments at a rate of knots but returning home after the quarterfinals has also been a recurring theme. Toss in the fact that Italy has long been Spain’s bête noire together with the hex of losing penalty shootouts on June 22 you can see why Sunday’s win has brought about a renewed belief that the trophy has Spain’s name on it.

Spain also goes into the semifinal knowing that they have already beaten Russia in their opening game of the tournament. What is more Spain has reached the last four without firing on all cylinders. Casillas, Capdevilla, Senna, Silva and Villa of all played well but there have been other players whose play could be described as patchy at best.

Sergio Ramos underwent a particularly tough time against Russia, Iniesta has played poorly, and Torres has yet to hit top form. In the center of the defense Puyol (at times Albiol) and Marchena have accomplished the task without inspiring confidence.

However, Spain also realize that their semifinal opponent has bounced back after the 4-1 loss and has far exceeded the expectations going into the tournament. Before the Euro finals Guus Hiddink had talked down Russia’s chances preferring to to talk about how this tournament would help his team prepare for the World Cup in 2010.

Whether Hiddink was trying to scoot under the radar or the progress of his young team was more rapid than expected, we don’t really know. What we do to know is that Russia has become one of the great stories of this tournament. The transition from a team that stumbled to a qualifying place to a team that is only 180 minutes from winning the European Championship is amazing.

And Hiddink has engineered the change through evolution rather than revolution. Igor Akinfeev, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Andrei Arshavin, Aleksandr Anyukov, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Sergei Semak were all part of the Russian side that played against Slovakia just before Hiddink’s arrival less than three years ago.

But you don’t even have to to go back that far. On September 12, 2007 Russia played England at the new Wembley in a critical Euro qualifier. England won 3-0 and to say that Russia looked ordinary would be an exaggeration.

They looked awful. But eight of the players that were so badly beaten at the new Wembley nine short months ago will most certainly line up against Spain today. Of the other three, goalkeeper Akinfeev was injured and not available, Pavlyuchenko was on the bench while Semak was out of favor and only recently been recalled.

The contrast between that heavy legged team that was beaten by England and the team that out ran and out played the Netherlands last Saturday is nothing short of phenomenal. According to Opta Sportsdata Semak covered 9.3 miles while Zyryanov and Zhirkov were not far behind.

The man responsible for Russia’s fitness is Dutchman Raymond Verheijen. Raymond Verheijen also worked with Hiddink when the Netherlands reached the semifinal of the World Cup in 1998 and with South Korea when they reached the same stage four years later.

Verheijen’s background is academic as well as practical implementation. His book, “Conditioning for Soccer,” was published in 1998 and is still available. He has also contributed to research that studied referees errors (they found that errors were more likely the closer the referee was to the incident), and the positioning of assistant referees in relation to offside calls.

Verheijen is considered to be a critical element in Russia’s success. It was on his recommendation that the date of a pre tournament friendly game against Lithuania was changed to June 4 from June 3.



Keys to the Game
Denis Kolodin had torrid time against David Villa in the first team of the tournament but settled down to become a vital part of the Russian defense in the next four games. It would have been interesting to see if he could handle Villa after being burned so badly only a couple weeks ago but we won’t get the chance because he is suspended after picking up two yellow cards.

It looks as if one of the Berezutski twins – Vasily – will partner Sergei Ignashevich in defense. However, both of the Berezutskis are painfully slow and that is certainly something that Villa and Torres will test.

At the other end Spain will need to take care of Arshavin and the much lighter and more mobile Pavlyuchenko. The big striker lost close to 9 pounds in the lead up to the tournament and this has contributed to a marked improvement in his game.

Both he and Arshavin are willing to take up wider and deeper positions and that poses problems for defenders. Go with them and you run the risk of leaving space for other attackers to fill; let them go and they have the opportunity to turn and run at defenders with great pace.

Look for the Russian pair to pull into wide positions or perhaps even start there in order to stretch central defenders Puyol and Marchena and defensive midfielder Marcos Senna.


Comment of the Day
“"Marco van Basten used to ask me why we had to win and also be convincing," Arrigo Sacchi remembers."A few years ago France Football made their list of the 10 greatest teams in history. My Milan was right up there. World Soccer did the same: my Milan was fourth, but the first three were national teams - Hungary '54, Brazil '70 and Holland '74. And then us. So I took those magazines and told Marco, 'This is why you need to win and you need to be convincing.' I didn't do it because I wanted to write history. I did it because I wanted to give ninety minutes of joy to people. And I wanted that joy to come not from winning, but from being entertained, from witnessing something special. I did this out of passion."” - Jonathan Wilson writing in the Guardian.


Stat Fact
“This (Spain vs. Russia) is the ninth time that two countries have met in the group phase and the knock-out stages of a European Championship or World Cup. The only countries to win the knock-out encounter after first losing in the group phase are West Germany against Hungary at the 1954 World Cup and the Netherlands against the Soviet Union at Euro 1988.” – BBC.


Match Report
Spain 3-0 Russia
As a contest it never reached the heights that we had a right to expect.  However, it was a Spanish master class of passing and movement when they had the ball and of shutting down the opposition when they didn’t. 

From the start Spain showed much more ambition and initiative.  Spain refused to allow Russia to settle in to the pattern of play that had worked so well and had been so successful against the Netherlands.

It took until almost the last minute of play for Casillas to make his first save of the match so dominant was the Spanish back four. Puyol and Marchena had their best game of the tournament while Capdevila did not put a foot wrong.

In Sergio Ramos Spain had a full back who was almost flawless in defense and also found time to push forward and was a constant menace to Russia.

David Villa’s injury after less than 30 minutes threatened to disrupt Spanish plans but rather than opting for a like-for-like change Coach Luis Aragones chose to reinforce his midfield and change from a 4-1-3-2 formation to a 4-1-4-1. On came Fabregas and slowly but surely Spain suffocated the life out of Russia.

When Russia gained possession they were instantly closed down and hurried into rash and wayward passes. Even though the game was scoreless on half time it was obvious that Guus Hiddink needed to kick start his Russian team. But you can’t tackle what you can’t catch and that was definitely the case today.

The first Spanish goal was perhaps slightly fortunate given that Iniesta look to have shot rather than have passed. But a pass it turned out to be as Xavi timed his run and deflected the ball past a helpless Akinfeev.

 As Russia tried to push forward Spain enjoyed even more freedom and was much more likely to add to their lead. And so it was when a terrific flick from Fabregas found Guiza who beat the offside trap and then the goalkeeper.

Fabregas was the architect of the third and final goal when he delivered an inch perfect pass to the outstanding David Silva. Silva calmly picked his spot and completed a very impressive Spanish win. On the day Russia just could not match Spain in any department.

Based on his performance Spain will likely go into Sunday’s final as favorite.  But that has not necessarily been a good thing at this tournament. Great performances seem to be tantamount to painting a large target on your back at Euro 2008.

We will see.