June 21 saw one of the best ever performances by the Russian national side, as Andrei Arshavin and his teammates passed the Dutch, who had earlier defeated Italy 3-0 and France 4-1, into the ground in a classic and memorable quarterfinal clash.
Eight weeks later, the Dutch, under new manager Bert van Marwijk, arrived in Moscow looking to prove that the Euro 2008 defeat had been a fluke.
"This is a new era for Holland," said Russia's Dutch manager, Guus Hiddink, before the game. "This will not be just another friendly for our team because the Dutch will be eager to settle the score."
Holland opened the scoring in the 24th minute, with a left-footed shot from Robin van Persie curling past Igor Akinfeev into the Russian goal. Although the Dutch continued to probe Russia's shaky defense, the half ended with no further work for the scoreboard operators.
The second half saw the Russians in almost complete control, although their defense continued to look unconvincing when the Dutch came forward.
With Andrei Arshavin in fine form, despite news earlier in the day that his on-off transfer to Tottenham Hotspur was off for good, Russia always looked likely to grab an equalizer and the chance came when Dmitry Torbinskiy, who scored the winner against the Dutch in June, was fouled by Giovanni van Bronckhorst in the penalty area.
Zenit's Konstantin Zyrianov calmly converted the spot-kick to level the score.
Russia swept forward in search of a second, but it was Holland who came closest to snatching a winner, Akinfeev saving at point blank range from Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink in the dying minutes.
Despite the big names on show and the nature of the encounter, the game was played in front of a half-full Cherkizovo stadium.
"I don't understand why a match involving the Euro 2008 semifinalists and quarterfinalists attracted such a low crowd," Arshavin said on his official website after the game, going on to note that Hiddink had praised the team after the match.
"Despite the fact that it was a friendly, the match was an interesting one," said Russia's captain Sergei Semak. "They wanted to get revenge for their defeat at Euro 2008."
"It was a good rehearsal for our upcoming World Cup qualifiers," he added.
Russia kick off their World Cup qualifying campaign with a match against Wales in Moscow on September 10. The other teams in Group Four are Germany, Finland, Azerbaijan and Lichtenstein.
In the night's shock result, Belarus held Argentina 0-0 in Minsk in another friendly. Soccer in Belarus is undergoing something of a mini-boom at present, with the ever-improving national side beating Holland in a Euro 2008 qualifier last year and domestic club champions BATE one match away from a first appearance in the Champions League.
In other games, Kazakhstan beat Andorra 3-0 in the first European qualifier for the 2010 World Cup, and England scored a last minute equalizer to draw 2-2 at home to the Czech Republic in a friendly.
In more friendlies, world champions Italy came back from two down to draw 2-2 against Austria at home, while Euro 2008 victors Spain beat Denmark 3-0 in Copenhagen. Georgia beat Wales 2-1 in Swansea.
