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Hiddink hails his Russia heroes

Guus Hiddink saluted the best performance of his short time as Russia coach after the 2-0 win in F.Y.R. Macedonia which took his team second in Group E.

Guus Hiddink saluted the best performance of his short reign as Russia coach following Wednesday's 2-0 win in F.Y.R. Macedonia which lifted his team into second place in UEFA EURO 2008™ Group E.

Due reward
Russia's dominance in Skopje resulted in an impressive attacking display capped by first-half goals from Vladimir Bystrov and Andrei Arshavin. The scoreline may have been more emphatic still but for some lax finishing, yet Hiddink, who took charge during the summer, was satisfied. "This was the best the team have played since I took over," the Dutchman said. Arguably it was reward for the positive approach Hiddink is trying to instil in his charges – witness a formation of three at the back, with seven attack-minded players taking the field for an away fixture.

Point of principle
"That is my football philosophy," the 60-year-old said. "Even after we drew at home to Israel in our second qualifier, I wasn't going to change our tactics. I would not make things more defensive. This team has to develop its own style and I see this as an attacking one. When we got together for this match, I just had to check whether our more talented players could stick to team discipline when we didn't have the ball, as not all creative players can do so. But I was delighted with how we worked as a team today as everyone stayed with the group and played for each other."

Committed performance
With PFC CSKA Moskva centre-back Sergei Ignashevich injured, Denis Kolodin of FC Dinamo Moskva made the most of a rare start with a flawless display capped by a series of superlative tackles. "Macedonia didn't play as well as we had expected," Kolodin, 24, said. "But credit to us, as we were really well prepared and knew how to exploit Macedonia's weak points."

Whetting the appetite
The praise from the Russian media was equally measured, with the daily Sport-Express commenting: "Yesterday we won confidently, but it was just against Macedonia, who are 50th in the FIFA world rankings. It helped to whet the appetite. But we cannot suddenly consider ourselves a major player in Europe on the back of this. We have to build on this." Russia will get the chance against Estonia in March. The longer-term aim for Hiddink will be to produce this kind of quality play and passion in the double-header against England in autumn 2007. "My first thought at the final whistle was that it would be great to be playing England in London later this week," the coach admitted.

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