Dutch media laments loss to Russia, hails Hiddink

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch media lamented on Sunday the Netherlands' quarter-final exit at Euro 2008 but hailed the Russia team coached by Dutchman Guus Hiddink, saying they fully deserved their 3-1 victory.

"Hiddink knocks out Oranje," top circulation De Telegraaf said in a front-page headline after Saturday's extra-time defeat in Basel. "The dream is in smithereens."

"Hiddink sends Oranje home," newspaper AD wrote on its website, praising Russia for their technical superiority and their playmaker Andrei Arshavin in particular.

"Russia dominated, brilliant players such as Arshavin created chances. Netherlands had to fall back, made errors and got into tight corners," it said.

The 27-year-old Arshavin was the architect of Russia's victory, setting up their second goal and scoring the third in the closing stages of extra time.

De Volkskrant agreed that the best team won, saying on its website: "Guus Hiddink's team was the deserved winner in a match that it dominated much of the time."

Some 7.5 million people in this football-mad nation of 16 million watched the game. Nearly four million people then tuned into a post-mortem of the match by sports commentators on Saturday night, ANP news agency reported.

The mood was gloomy among thousands of spectators watching the game in the main squares in Amsterdam, a police spokesman said, adding that fans had not caused any trouble.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Trevor Huggins)