Wed Jun 18 16:42:13 2008

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Russia rolls past Sweden and into quarterfinals

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Innsbruck, Austria (Sports Network) - Russia booked a spot in the quarterfinals of Euro 2008 on Wednesday with a convincing 2-0 win over Sweden, allowing them to claim second place in Group D.

Andrey Arshavin made his Euro debut for Russia after sitting out the first two games because of suspension, and he scored the team's second goal in the 50th minute, with Roman Pavlyuchenko bagging Russia's opener in the 24th.

The Russians will meet Group C winners the Netherlands on Saturday, while Sweden fails to advance to the knockout round of a major tournament for the first time in four tries.

The inclusion of Arshavin in the Russian lineup was a big boost from the start, with the attacking midfielder having a hand in many of Russia's early build ups, although they failed to seriously threaten the Swedish goal.

Yuri Zhirkov was responsible for Russia's first good chance of the match when he sent a hard left-footed volley curling past the right post, but Russia's early pressure paid off with the opening goal just minutes later.

Another strong build up from the midfield led to Alexander Aniukov getting into the box on the right. He then slid a pass to Pavlyuchenko near the penalty spot, and the striker rolled the ball into the lower left corner with a first-time shot for his second goal of the competition.

Sweden carved out a rare chance minutes later when Henrik Larsson's glancing header skimmed the top of the crossbar, but Russia went right back on the attack and nearly added a second goal when Pavlyuchenko struck the crossbar from eight yards.

Russia was getting most of the opportunities in the first half, but Sweden closed strongly with Fredrik Ljungberg testing Russia goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev before defender Mikael Nilsson got forward and forced Akinfeev to come off his line to make another stop.

However, the Russians seized the momentum in the second half with a brilliant counter-attack goal that gave them a two-goal lead.

A long Swedish free kick was nodded into midfield, and one pass later, Zhirkov was flying down the left flank towards the penalty area. He got into the box and drew a defender before sliding the ball to Arshavin, who buried it into the bottom right corner.

Sweden tried to get back into the match as Olof Mellberg headed over the crossbar from close range, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic got a rare glimpse of goal but nodded the ball harmlessly at the keeper.

Russia almost added a third goal with Sweden pushing forward, but Konstantin Zyrianov was denied by the woodwork.

In the end, Ibrahimovic was held in check throughout most of the game, and the Russian counter attack was too much for Sweden to handle.