br>
img src=»/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/168f361d702563a11518bc6ead3fbed7.jpg» />
Today, fans and the media nostalgically recall the historic match of the Russian national football team against the Netherlands team, which took place on June 21, 2008. It was the quarterfinals of the European Championship — 2008, where our sensationally left the most difficult group with the Spaniards, Swedes and Greeks … And they did not want to stop there! Exactly 15 years ago in Basel (Switzerland), our team beat and sent home one of the main favorites of the tournament — 3:1 after 120 minutes. Roman Pavlyuchenko, Dmitry Torbinsky and Andrei Arshavin scored against the Russians, Ruud van Nistelrooy scored against the Orange.
Although Guus Hiddink's team again lost to the Spaniards in the semi-finals (0:3), the bronze medals of the European Championship became an unprecedented success for domestic football.
Vladimir Gabulov
The goalkeeper, after unsuccessful work in the leadership of Khimki, is counting on a return to big football. Media football clubs tried to lure him away, but the titled goalkeeper was not interested.
Vyacheslav Malafeev
The main goalkeeper in the history of Zenit owns a large real estate agency in St. Petersburg. And also (at times) responds to Artem Dzyuba's attacks and goes beyond the limits of sports media thanks to filming in a reality show.
Vasily and Alexey Berezutsky
The most famous brothers of Russian football after the end of their careers have already managed to work as coaches. Alexey became the helmsman of the “army” in 2021 after the separation of CSKA from Ivica Olic, but the season for him and Vasily at the head of the Moscow team turned out to be a failure. Fifth place in the Russian championship is clearly not what the fans expected from the Berezutskys. In June 2022, Alexei was replaced by Vladimir Fedotov; Vasily also left CSKA.By the way, on the eve of the former football players (Vasily played two matches at Euro 2008, and Alexei did not play) celebrated their 41st birthday.
Sergei Ignashevich
He played the match with the Netherlands at the highest level and almost got into a fight with Akinfeev because of an unexpected pass back in your own penalty area.Next season we will again see the famous defender in the Russian Premier League (RPL). True, as a coach. Ignashevich brought Baltika Kaliningrad to the top division, which will play in the RPL for the first time since 1998. By the way, this season Ignashevich's guys set a record unbeaten run in the First League, which lasted 30 matches.
br>
Dmitry Torbinsky
The author of the second, which became the winning goal against the great Edwin van der Sar in the 112th minute. Three times he entered the field at that European Championship. Baltika and Yenisei, and then disappeared … It turned out that the ex-football player of the Russian national team moved to the United States with his family in the summer of 2019 and even opened an academy in Miami.
br>Sergey Semak
Since the 2018/19 season, when Semak took charge of Zenit, the Blue-White-Blues have invariably become champions of Russia.
Oleg Ivanov
He got into the final application of the national team at the last moment, replacing the injured Pavel Pogrebnyak, but did not play in the tournament. Now plays for the Kazan “Rubin”. In the 2022/23 season, he scored two goals in 23 FNL matches, helped the team win the tournament and return to the RPL.
Diniyar Bilyaletdinov
In the match with the Netherlands, he came on as a substitute with the score 1:0 in favor of Russia.
A year after Euro 2008, he moved to the English Everton, but spent 2.5 years in the Premier League. Then he played for the Moscow «Spartak» and «Torpedo», «Anji», «Rubin» and the Lithuanian «Trakai». Currently engaged in coaching.
Played at the Euro without substitutions. He completed his career in December 2017, after which he delved into coaching in the Zenit St. Petersburg system. Since October 2022, he has been the head of Chernomorets, at the end of the season he brought the Novorossiysk club to the FNL.
Yuri Zhirkov
The main old-timer of Russian football was one of the best in the Russian national team in the match with the Netherlands and could earn a penalty, but the chief referee of the meeting Lubos Michel missed the violation. He announced his retirement from football in February 2023 at the age of 39.
src=»/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/a1b7cbee3b41e84835c8998f15623750.jpg» />
br>
Igor Semshov
In the match with the Netherlands, he went on as a substitute with the score 1:0 in favor of the Russians. He completed his playing career in 2015. In December 2022, he headed the Chaika Second League club, often acting as a football expert in the Russian media.
Vladimir Bystrov
In those days, he was one of the main stars of the RPL, but he played a total of less than 30 minutes for the national team in the tournament, and missed the match with the Netherlands altogether. He has not played football at a professional level since 2018, although he did not announce his retirement. Currently, he is known mainly for bright and provocative statements.
src=»/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/82a46cf52f28cce60c75031923639dc8.jpg» />
Roman Adamov
I watched the match against the Dutch from the bench, and for the entire Euro 2008 I remember one inaccurate pass in the first game with the Spaniards (1:4), which became an Internet meme. In 2018, he ended his career, after which he tried himself as a manager in several clubs.
Ivan Saenko
In the match against the «orange» had some great moments, but could not excel. After Euro 2008, he moved to Spartak Moscow, where he faced a series of injuries and three years later, at the age of 27, said goodbye to his professional career. For the first time in a long time, he appeared before the public in June of this year, taking part in a retro match dedicated, among other things, to the anniversary of the historical European Championship.
Andrey Arshavin
The main star of the match. He gave everything possible and impossible for the sake of victory, made a fantastic pass to the winning goal of Dmitry Torbinsky and knocked out the Dutch, sending the ball between the legs of van der Sar.
Thanks to a successful performance in the 2007/08 season, he became famous throughout Europe and even managed to light up in London's Arsenal. In December 2018, he ended his playing career, after which he worked as a manager and coach. At the moment, he holds the post of deputy general director for sports development of Zenit, but the media claim that Arshavin will leave this position in the near future.
In the course of the meeting with the European champions — 1988, he replaced Roman Pavlyuchenko, entering the field moments before Andrey Arshavin's goal. In 2019, he said goodbye to professional football. Now periodically acts as a football expert in the Russian media.
Guus Hiddink
- < br>Head Coach
The creator of that team left the post in 2010, and in the fall of 2021 announced the end of his coaching career. Even after 15 years, he considers the victory over his native country at Euro 2008 one of the main achievements in life.
Guus Hiddink's right-hand man is still coaching and waiting for new challenges. His last job was at Torpedo Moscow, which he left in August 2022.
Igor Korneev
- Coach
Together with Borodyuk, he was Hiddink's assistant. He left the coaching staff of the Russian national team at the same time as the Dutch specialist. After that, he worked for Zenit, Slavia Prague, Lokomotiv and Monaco. Like Borodyuk, he took part in the June retromatch in St. Petersburg, taking the position of coach of the Russian team.