It was not quite a shock when Germany turned on the form after the group phase by eliminating Portugal, because Germany are Germany - football powers who know how to pace a tournament.

It was memorable, even if only by penalties after a gruelling stalemate, when Turkey shot down Croatia.

And for Russia to outplay, outrun and outwit the Dutch? Well, if you had predicted that, congratulations. You obviously possess extra-sensory perception.

Not even Guus Hiddink anticipated such a victory. And he is one who used all his insider knowledge to coach his Russian team on how to peel apart the Oranje.

Do not go home to the Netherlands, some of his friends advised him, half in jest. Hiddink is more likely to go to his new home - to Moscow, where the streets are alive with people dancing the night away and chanting his name.

Back in Austria and Switzerland, the heat is on the big boys, physically and mentally. The mind games are being won by teams carrying the least expectations and, therefore, have the least to lose.

But if this is to be 2004 all over again, one huge change is taking place.

Greece won the title on the back foot. Otto Rehhagel built the 'Greek Wall' and defended his right to defend his way to the biggest upset in the competition's history, by saying what else could little Greece do against the big boys.

Well, plenty. There is not a team here who have defended well. Not even the Turks, who wait for opponents to score first and then show extraordinary powers of recovery.

What has emerged is an upside-down reversal of form and fortune. Upside-down because each of the teams who have gone through to the semi-finals, overcame teams ranked above them.

And, curiously enough, these are teams who had had the luxury of lying in wait, resting up, while the Germans, Turks and Russians were toiling to qualify.

This suggests that, perhaps, the players who came out of the blocks so fast that they won their groups with a match to spare, either allowed complacency to sink in or got bored with the waiting.

Players prefer to play rather than train. They hate hanging around, cloistered in five-star luxury with minders telling them to rest while the reserves see out the third group game.

Perhaps they relaxed too much. Perhaps they told themselves that, whatever happens, their opponents will run out of steam in the steamy nights before they do.

Logic suggests that this is true, and the coaches these days employ an army of assistants to look after the players' minds, muscles and moods.

Team psychologists do not wander around in white coats. Rather, they wear full training kit as if they, rather than their clients, were living a fantasy.

I do not say sack them all. But it is blindingly obvious that if you keep 23 healthy men in a hotel and training ground environment 24/7, time becomes eternal.

The routine slackens, the tension and momentum of tournament play subsides.

And though nobody could foresee the grief that infiltrated the Dutch camp after Khalid Boulahrouz's wife lost her premature baby last week, it must have preyed on idle minds, too.

The Dutch claimed that they thought about it, dealt with it, and even grew strength as a unit through Boulahrouz's torment.

It was not offered as an excuse for their sluggish start against Russia, but Marco van Basten said there was a nervousness in his players he had not seen in the tournament before then.

The nerves, I suggest, are of being cooped up for seven days waiting for the next contest.

Russia, meanwhile, had three days between the first round and the quarter-final - one to recuperate from tired and stiff joints, another to think tactically about the Dutch, a third to travel to the venue.

And when the Dutch took to the field, they found that Hiddink, their former mentor, had instructed his full-backs to attack down the flanks.

That stopped the Dutch from flying down the wings. It meant that Nigel de Jong and Orlando Engelaar, the least creative midfield anchormen, were the only ones given any room with the ball.

The full eclipse of the Netherlands, however, was personified by Andrei Arshavin outplaying Wesley Sneijder.

'The coach said he expected them to play very aggressively against us,' Arshavin said. 'But it turned out that they ran out of breath before we did.'

stsports@sph.com.sg