Russia power into semis

Ruud van Nistelrooy had taken an extraordinary match into extra time, cancelling out Roman Pavlyuchenko's 56th-minute opener with a stooping header four minutes before the end of regulation time.

But Russia's energy levels in the 30 added minutes proved decisive and after Torbinski had poked home a finish in the 112th minute, the excellent Arshavin made Russia's qualification safe with a third four minutes later.

Russia now face a semi-final against either Spain or Italy in Vienna on Thursday, and become the third pool runners-up to qualify for the last four.

The assured Russians had the better of the early chances, Yuri Zhirkov's free-kick drawing a smart save out of Edwin van der Sar and Pavlyuchenko heading wastefully over when free eight yards out.

Pavlyuchenko broke the deadlock when Sergei Semak broke free down the left and crossed low for the Spartak Moscow striker to sidefoot a volley home left-footed.

The wasteful Russians were made to pay when Van Nistelrooy took the game into extra-time, heading home Wesley Sneijder's free-kick at the far post from close range in the 86th minute.

A key decision came with seconds left in stoppage time. Denis Kolodin thought he had received his second yellow card for bringing down Sneijder - but the assistant referee spared the 26-year-old by signalling the ball had earlier gone out of play.

So to extra time it went, and after Arshavin had shot wastefully over, Pavlyuchenko struck the crossbar with a fierce effort from the angle.

The Russians swarmed all over the Dutch in the second half but they could not find the cutting edge until Torbinski slid to tap home Arshavin's deft far-post cross and Arshavin then scored the killer third by turning his marker and slipping home a deflected shot through Van der Sar's legs.