Basle battle of Netherlands and Russia

VIENNA, June 20 - Netherlands lit the group stages but Russia are not far behind with their class ahead of Sweden and the two teams now face a battle in Basle on Saturday to decide who reached the semi-finals of Euro 2008.

A week ago the Netherlands-odds examined in advance for the last four, but if they remain favourites, Russia sparkling 2-0 victory over Sweden at Innsbruck on Wednesday altered the balance.

Although the Netherlands has Ruud van Nistelrooy in attack, Russia may appeal to the Roman Pavlyuchenko revitalized.

Wesley Sneijder is also against the competence Andrei Arshavin in the middle of the field while on the wing of the Netherlands have Arjen Robben and Russia with the versatile midfielder Konstantin Zyryanov.

But the Dutch coach Marco van Basten is keen to learn the lessons of Spain 4-1 rout of Russia at the beginning of the tournament.

"We must see what the Spanish did to them and take our lessons from this," he said.

Many Dutch first choice players have had a week to rest and prepare after Van Basten reserves most often used in the last group match against Romania.

It is likely to start with the team that came out of the locker room for the second half of the 4-1 romp la France last Friday, starting with Robben and Orlando Engelaar surrender to the judiciary.

Robben, who missed the opening match against Italy by injuries, did well after coming to Engelaar against Les Bleus and was a starter for Romania.

However, if the attacker Robben talents are unquestionable and Dirk Kuyt must prove they can cope with the defensive free functioning Yuri Zhirkov and Alexander Anyukov.

The Russian players have less than three days to recover from the Sweden game and that could prove a key factor.

They have no major injury concerns and Arshavin should be fresh after playing only 90 minutes in the tournament.

His return from suspension was the catalyst in the transformation of Russia into a slick passing team that could have been modeled on the Dutch.

With the Dutchman Guus Hiddink in charge, which should not come too surprised.

The well-travelled coach has forged its reputation of the construction work hard parts where players perform above their capacity, but in this group of Russians, he acknowledges that he has the quality of some raw materials .

"The players have proved this tournament, they can continue to play this type of football," he said.

"The way we play, we get respect, we like to play the way football should be played and I think that the Netherlands do the same."