Word: arshavin
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...light, and it too played the high-tempo attacking game of the Spanish. A ghost of its CCCP past, this team announced that once again Russia was ready to play on the world soccer stage. Guus Hiddink's men, led by its striking partnership of Roman Pavlyuchenko and Andrei Arshavin, had the wannabe oligarchs in attendance contentedly puffing on their Havanas. The only pity was that the Russians had to play Spain twice...
...Russia had run roughshod over Holland - the odds-on favorite and tournament glamour boys - in the quarters, pouring into the Dutch end like the relentless rains that seemed to show up at every kickoff of Euro 2008. We learned to pronounce the names of strikers Roman Pavlyuchenko and Andre Arshavin (I'm still working on Diniyar Bilyaletdinov). The Russians had gotten progressively better, and their swarming attacks, their pure athleticism, were too much for Sweden and Greece. Plus, the Russians had two pure finishers who had their increasingly proud, loud supporters thinking about the trophy...
...Against Holland, Pavlyuchenko had help in the baby faced striker Andrei Arshavin, who gave the Dutch defense all they could handle. Pavlyuchenko was the first to a cross by Sergei Semak in the 56th minute, and it looked a certainty that the Russians could make the goal stand up, despite the addition of Robin van Persie and Ibrahim Afellay to the game for Holland, Arjen Robben being unavailable. Finally, Ruud van Nistelrooy converted a free kick with a far-post header to level the game in the 86th minute. Yet the Russians held together and then took charge in overtime...
...Nistelrooy at his goal poaching best. That may be too much for its next foe, Russia. The Russians were another one of the surprise packages of the first round, outlasting Greece 1-0 and subduing Sweden with two nearly perfect goals, the second a five-pass combination that Andrei Arshavin finished to give the throng of supporters shouting "Roos-y-a" the feeling that the Mighty Bear, which won the first Euro in 1960 as the CCCP, was back. Yet coach Guus Hiddink has already warned his team not to be naïve. The Russians couldn't handle Spain...
...money is changing football at home in Russia, too. The seamless combination of government and business has made a priority of returning the motherland to world football's highest ranks. Zenit boasts a side of national stars, including Andrei Arshavin and Pavel Pogrebnyak, whose dizzying salaries are financed by energy giant Gazprom, the team's owner. Moscow clubs Spartak and Dynamo are sponsored by their corporate patrons - also from the oil and gas sector - Yukos and Lukoil, respectively. The war chests that such firms bring to the game have led to galloping salary inflation, says midfielder Alexei Smertin...
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