Hiddink grateful to England

Russia coach thanks England for losing to Croatia

By Lewis Rutledge   Last updated: 26th June 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Hiddink grateful to England

Hiddink: Owes a lot to England

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Guus Hiddink has not forgotten that Russia only qualified for Euro 2008 thanks to England.

England needed just a point from their final group game against Croatia to finish runners-up behind Slaven Bilic's men and end Russia's hopes of competing in Austria and Switzerland.

Croatia did Russia a favour by securing a dramatic 3-2 win at Wembley and Hiddink's side have taken advantage of their second chance.

They have impressed in reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2008 but Hiddink realises that he owes a lot to England's capitulation.

"Everybody is now highlighting us and there is talk about me being given citizenship but I haven't forgotten the tough time we had," Hiddink said in the Daily Star.

"We had a good win against England but a loss against Israel. I'm well aware of that.

Fortunate

"If England had not lost to Croatia, we would not be here. Fortunately it did not happen and we qualified."

Hiddink is aware of the fine line between success and failure and feels it is important for Russia to find more consistency if they are to go on and triumph in Vienna on Sunday night.

He explained: "I don't get carried away by today's success. It shows you that football is decided on details.

"When you win, you are considered a successful coach, but it's also true that when you fail, you are not as bad as they think.

"We must not forget that we had a very irregular qualification - good and bad - but we got here."