Regrettably the events of that thirty minute period of extra time whereby the Russians overwhelmed the Dutch have rendered by fellow site editor, orange_emu speechless.
Therefore, it`s up to me to take a quick look at the events of last night.
Despite fanatical support, by thousands of orange shirted supporters, the Dutch, to be brutally honest, never got started. As it turned out only the heroics of our ex-keeper, Edwin van der Sar, kept the Dutch in it.
Therefore, when Pavlyuchenko gave the Russian side the lead just before the hour mark, I began to fear that this just might be the tournament, whereby the Dutch win, that we all anticipated.
Nevertheless an equaliser from Ruud Van Nistelrooy, with four minutes left on the clock, gave us hope, hope that those in orange might just pull of a quarter-final win.
Unfortunately in extra time the Russians showed that they were stronger and when Torbinski gave them the lead the Dutch heads dropped and it came as no surprise when the man-of-the-match, Arshavin, scored a third for them.
Having exited the tournament we can now say farewell to Marco Van Basten as he leaves to coach the legendary Ajax of Amsterdam club and we`d like to wish our conquerors, Russia, all the best as they continue what, for them, could prove to be a remarkable journey.
Two last questions!
Would the Dutch have done better last night if Arjen Robben was playing?
And
Does the pain of losing lessen if your conquerors emerge tournament winners?
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