Hiddink the only happy Dutchman in Basel

BASEL (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of orange-clad Dutch fans came to party in Switzerland on Saturday but only one was left celebrating at the end of a gripping Euro 2008 quarter-final between Netherlands and Russia.

Dutchman Guus Hiddink masterminded his adopted country's 3-1 extra time win over his homeland with a performance that saw Russia beat Netherlands at their own slick-passing game.

While the 61-year-old got his tactics spot on, counterpart Marco Van Basten looked on in anguish as his Dutch team failed to reproduce the sparkling form that yielded three wins in a row in the group stages.

Hiddink's instructions were carried out brilliantly by man of the match Andrei Arshavin, who created one goal and scored another.

Before the tournament Hiddink said he thought long and hard about whether to include Arshavin in the squad because he was suspended for the opening two Group D games against Spain and Greece.

But his decision was fully vindicated as Arshavin ran the show and along with Roman Pavlyuchenko and Konstantin Zyryanov helped put Hiddink's plan into action, securing the victory that means Russia will meet Italy or Spain in the semi-finals in Vienna on Thursday.

Arshavin said: "One Dutch coach beat 11 talented Dutch players. It's a great happiness for me and for the whole of Russia.

"The coach said he expected the Dutch would play very aggressively against us but it turned out they ran out of breath before we did. At the end the better Dutchman, our coach, won."

Hiddink, who cast himself in the role of "Dutch traitor" before the game, was in charge of the Netherlands when they reached the 1998 World Cup semi-finals.

He also led South Korea to the last four in the 2002 edition and guided unfancied Australia to the last 16 of the World Cup two years ago.

MEMORABLE GOAL

Exactly 20 years ago to the day Hiddink was among those who celebrated Van Basten's winning goal against West Germany in Hamburg that put the Dutch into the final of Euro 1988 which they went on to win against Soviet Union four days later thanks to Ruud Gullit's goal and Van Basten's memorable volley.

But the 43-year-old Van Basten, who takes over as coach of Ajax Amsterdam next season, never looked like celebrating the anniversary with victory.

Although his team blitzed their way through the group stages with wins over world champions Italy, 2006 runners-up France and Romania, the Dutch looked sluggish with defensive midfielder Sergei Semak nullifying playmaker Wesley Sneijder.

Although the Dutch did create their own chances in a game that produced 54 attempts on goal, Van Basten's men lacked the spark and invention they showed earlier in the finals.

Instead the slick-passing Russians swept from one end of the field to the other, Arshavin dominating with his mesmerizing, jinking runs.

Netherlands started the tournament with a 3-0 victory over Italy and immediately looked capable of winning the trophy for the first time since Van Basten's heyday.

The following day Russia began their campaign by sliding to a heavy 4-1 defeat by Spain.

They did not have Arshavin playing that day ... they do now.

(Editing by Tony Jimenez)