D3: Russia 2 - 0 Sweden - 18/06/08

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Euro 2008, Group D
Russia v Sweden

Stadium: Tivoli Neu, Innsbruck
Kick-off: Wednesday, 18 June 2008, 20.45h

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The referee has been apointed for the match: Frank De Bleeckere (BEL).

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Do or die

The last team in the quarter-finals will be either Russia or Sweden. Both teams go head to head in Innsbruck tonight (20:45).

Both teams bank on an individual superstar. Sweden have Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a classic centre forward. Russia have Andrej Arshavin, a small and tricky player.

Arshavin back from suspension

The two attackers also have something in common: problems. Ibrahimovic is struggling with knee problems for three months now.

Arshavin missed Russia's first two matches through suspension and is yet to play at the EURO 2008. Still, both teams expect their key players to be the difference.

Draw enough for Sweden

"Zlaten is exceptional. I think he will play from the start, but we have to wait and see if it's enough for 90 minutes. With him on the pitch our chances are distinctly better", Sweden coach Lars Lagerbäck commented.

Ibrahimovic has scored in both of Sweden's matches, the 2-0 over Greece and the 1-2 against Spain. The better goal difference means that Sweden would go through to the last 8 if the match ends in a draw.

Hiddink tight-lipped

Russia coach Guus Hiddink is keeping his cards close to his chest, saying "Arshavin hasn't played recently and we don't need to change a lot after the good match against Russia. I don't know whether he will play from the start."

But Russia's Dutch coach knows how important Arshavin is. "He can score out of the blue."

Saenko confident

Hiddink passes the role of favourites to Sweden, but Ivan Saenko has other ideas.

"If we win this match and go on a run it will be difficult for anyone to beat us. Everyone would have laughed four years ago if someone had predicted Greece winning the tournament. You shouldn't write off no one", the 1. FC Nürnberg striker said.

The winners will face group C winners Holland in the last 8.

Line-ups as expected:

Russia: 1 Akinfeev - 22 Anyukov, 8 Kolodin, 4 Ignashevich, 18 Zhirkov - 11 Semak - 17 Zyryanov, 20 Semshov, 15 Bilyaletdinov - 10 Arshavin - 19 Pavlyuchenko

Sweden: 1 Isaksson - 5 Stoor, 3 Mellberg, 4 Hansson, 2 Nilsson - 11 Elmander, 8 Svensson, 19 Andersson, 9 Ljungberg - 17 Henrik Larsson - 10 Ibrahimovic

Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)

Bundesliga - Die offizielle Webseite

[Vargas_4]

I think Sweden will take this one.

The Russians don't seem as strong as i thought they would be for this Euro.

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Ibrahimovic header *9
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First Goal For Russia - Pavlyuchenko *24
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Pavlyuchenko shot hit the cross bar *35
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Elmander One on One Chance *43
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Second Goal For Russia - Arshavin *50
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[Jager]

Sweden is a victim of their recent success. What do I mean? They are reliant on an injured Zlatan, and they don't have much else. Larson is aging, and they have no fullbacks that can rush, and no creative midfield.

Russia on the other hand are playing nice football. Beautiful passes, creativity and well set up goals.

Sweden's recent resurgence I think is over.

[ReMad]

Dangerous chance for Russia inside penalty area
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Russia 2 - 0 Sweden

Arshavin stars as Russia oust Sweden

Guus Hiddink's gamble of taking the previously suspended Andrei Arshavin to UEFA EURO 2008™ paid off in spectacular fashion with the forward putting in a fine performance as Russia downed Sweden by 2-0 to set up a quarter-final date with the Netherlands in Basel on Saturday.

Stars in place
The FC Zenit St. Petersburg player was a constant menace to Sweden, scoring Russia's second goal and striking the post in the second half. With most of the talk in the build-up to the Group D game centering around Arshavin and Zlatan Ibrahimović, the news that both were to start came as something of a surprise. Russia coach Guus Hiddink had hinted that Arshavin was not match fit while the condition of Ibrahimović's knee meant that the FC Internazionale Milano striker was a doubt up until the last minute.

Aggressive start
Russia stayed true to Hiddink's promise that his side would be hunting victory from the first minute. In the opening stages, Arshavin's pass into the centre saw Igor Semshov and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov collide when they had the goal at their mercy but Sweden threatened shortly afterwards when a centre from Anders Svensson found Ibrahimović, only for the striker's downward header to be collected by Igor Akinfeev with Henrik Larsson lurking.

Fine opener
Arshavin and Bilyaletdinov both missed chances as the quarter hour approached before the former sent in a cross-shot that Andreas Isaksson tipped over. From Konstantin Zyryanov's resulting corner Yuri Zhirkov's thunderous shot zipped just wide. Then, in the 24th minute Russia's moment arrived. Arshavin released Zyryanov on the right and the midfielder in turn found Aleksandr Anyukov's run inside the area. The right back rolled a pass to Roman Pavlyuchenko and the tall striker calmly finished for his second goal of the tournament. Sweden almost drew level moments later but Larsson's header from a Mikael Nilsson cross hit the top of the crossbar. Pavlyuchenko then saw a shot bounce back off the upright after another slick move involving Arshavin and Bilyaletdinov.

Lead doubled
Five minutes after the break and Russia had their second of the game. Makeshift left back Yuri Zhirkov found himself racing away past the Swedish defence before he centred for returning hero Arshavin, who had no problem directing the ball past Isaksson's right hand. Sweden were visibly rocked and although their players began to react in the final third of the pitch, the best they could manage was an Olof Mellberg header that flew harmlessly over Akinfeev's crossbar. It was turning in to the Andrei Arshavin show and after midfielder was booked for upending substitute Kim Källström he was almost through on goal again but was finally outmuscled by Fredrik Stoor.

Spurned chances
With the game going into its closing stages Russia should have had a third goal after creating a number of late chances. Zyryanov went close when his deflected shot came back off the post before Pavlyuchenko spurned two great opportunities, firstly heading straight into the grateful hands of Isaksson and then mis-hitting a shot with only the keeper to beat.

euro2008.uefa.com - Tournament - Matches

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The official Man of the Match is Andrei Arshavin (Russia).

euro2008.uefa.com - Fanzone

[kyan]

Originally Posted by Jager

Sweden is a victim of their recent success. What do I mean? They are reliant on an injured Zlatan, and they don't have much else. Larson is aging, and they have no fullbacks that can rush, and no creative midfield.

Russia on the other hand are playing nice football. Beautiful passes, creativity and well set up goals.

Sweden's recent resurgence I think is over.

I'm not sold, I don't think Sweden have been successful at all. It was clear from the outset they had an old team with few players in their prime. They just got lucky that Greece were probably the worst team of the tournament (probably between them and Poland) and the win there made them seem better than they were.

Against Spain they did little but defend, a couple of chances off the cuff but you'd expect that. Their goal v Spain came from a mistake from Ramos and a poor attempt to save from Casillas...

Russia deserved it, Arshavin and Pavlyuchenko link up phenomenally and Zhirkov is amazing going forward, he might be a little bit too gung-ho but he's got a peach of a left-foot. The Russian RB is a beast as well, ran so much and was pretty fast.

Akinfeev I'm not sure about. His distribution looked fantastic and his shot-stopping seems good but he's a bit weak in the air, doesn't really look imposing either (although maybe that's compared to his defence ).

I'm not sure whether they'll be able to beat Holland or not, but there should be some good football and goals on show.

[Jager]

Kyan, they are qaulifying for Championships, so they are playing football that can get them to the "dance", however the side is reliant to much on a few players, and when they get to the "dance", they quickly find out that they have only learned the "cha cha", and everybody else is doing the "maccarena"..do you follow?

Sweden need new blood. I just hope Zlatan didn't fuk up his knee much.