Andrei Arshavin can go either side, so he makes 95% of players look one-dimensional.
This guy can go right or left, shoot with either foot, cross with either foot, and chip it with either foot as well.
Arshavin is 15 times better than Malouda, 10 times better than Hleb, five times better than Robben, and twice as good as Wesley Sneijder. He is pure class, the best footballer in this tournament.
He’s also Putin’s favourite player. But he wants to leave Zenit St Petersburg.
In the right team, Arshavin could be as good as Bergkamp, Cantona or Pires.
He’s 27 and available but would be wasted at Everton or Newcastle, two of the clubs keen on signing him. He could play Champions League for Zenit next season, since they won the title last November before winning the Uefa Cup in May, but he fancies another challenge.
During the Portugal-Germany game, the 2-3 quarter-final, I was thinking about patience.
I’ve seen three types of patience in the last 14 days : possession patience, zonal patience, tournament patience.
Croatia have possession patience. They pass sideways and backwards and play as if they have all day and all night.
Russia have zonal patience. They let Sweden lump it forward, then break neatly at pace, almost always on one flank, rarely with diagonals, making runs near the ball and in front of the ball , to allow shallow- angled passes that are quite easy to play and very hard to intercept. All Russia support runs are on the same side of the field as the ball. Zenit destroyed Bayern Munich with that kind of counter-attack in the Uefa Cup semi-final
Germany have tournament patience. They didn’t really start to play until 12 days into the event, their first knock-out game
Holland v Russia could be an enthralling tactical battle between two Dutch coaches.
Guus Hiddink has coached Holland, South Korea and Australia but has never played an international match against his home nation until now.
Hiddink says he’ll tell his boys to go for it but that sounds like disinformation to me. Russia’s young side will play a game of containment till they work out the Oranje, who are the most dynamic side in the tournament, having thumped Italy 3-0 and blitzed France 4-1.
Akinfeev, the keeper I hoped Arsenal would sign two years ago, should have some work to do. Man United’s Edwin van der Sar has had a terrific tournament so far and could go all the way. What a buzz if he wins the EPL and the Champions League Final and then follows that by winning Euro 2008.
They say Holland camp is harmonious. If true, that makes change. Dutch players are notoriously opinionated. Normally, if you have eleven Dutchmen in a dressing room, you’ll have twelve opinions and a big punch-up.
Here is where Arshavin shows us how football should be played.