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Russia hit the right notes
by Patrick Hart from St. Jakob-Park
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Russia fans were in fine voice against the Netherlands
(¿Getty Images)
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If ever there was a European Championship for national
anthems, Russia would surely be a title contender. The Hymn of the Russian
Federation may not be the catchiest name for a tune, but the wonderfully
mournful song to the nation's "broad expanse for dreams" could
challenge perennial favourites such as La Marseillaise, L'Inno di Mameli,
Das Deutschlandlied or surprise package A Portuguesa. The hope for fans
waving white, blue and red flags at St. Jakob-Park was that this would
be the only elegy sung to Mother Russia on the night of the third UEFA
EURO 2008T quarter-final.
Same old tune
Dutch supporters have a reputation for liking nothing better than a sing-along
themselves, often borrowing from the English terrace canon. It is a less
acknowledged fact that their national anthem, Het Wilhelmus, stakes a
claim as being the world's oldest, with its tune dating back to the 16th
century when it was a French soldiers' song. The melody, after it reached
the Netherlands, was adapted to tell of William I of Orange, a key figure
in the Dutch struggle for independence. The eponymous hero of Het Wilhelmus
is also known as William the Silent, a quality notably lacking among the
travelling army from northern Europe at these finals. The current invasion
of Basel, it is estimated, has numbered at least 100,000. William at least
would have approved of the colour of battle dress.
Noise solution
The Russian supporters attending this tournament have also been happy
to nod in the direction of history - before the decisive victory over
Sweden in Innsbruck, they had unfurled a giant decorative banner portraying
another former opponent of the Swedes, Peter the Great. There was no such
pageantry on show here, possibly because not all of Russia's fans had
made the trip from their base in Austria. Still, those that got to St.
Jakob-Park were noisy enough. It wasn't that they were singing when they
were winning either, for they had been the noisier lot throughout, though
they did fairly explode when Roman Pavlyuchenko scored after 56 minutes.
'Great glory'
Russia's footballers have helped to conquer Europe before, the USSR winning
the first edition of this competition in 1960. After outmanoeuvring the
Netherlands twice here - the victory should really have been emphatically
theirs before Ruud van Nistelrooy's 86th-minute header - Guus Hiddink's
team stand only two matches away from becoming the second side, after
the Dutch of 1988, to lift the crown following an opening-day defeat.
But, considering the way they went out and won the game for a second time
with Andrei Arshavin laying on a goal for Dmitri Torbinski and then scoring
himself, Russian football can already sing about a "mighty will and
a great glory".
Euro2008.com,
21 June 2008
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