Raymond Domenech, just like his post-defeat marriage proposal, should have done the deed quietly, without fuss and out of the public view long before this tournament but instead he decided to let us all share in the final undignified international fall of fading warriors such as Thierry Henry, Claude Makélélé, Lilian Thuram and Patrick Vieira. It was sad to see so many of them looking old, tired and missing the vital spark that once made them such a vibrant force.

There was less sympathy for the apparent churlishness shown by some in their number, such as Nicolas Anelka, who looked like ageing multimillionaires who think the game, and life, owes them more respect than they deserve.

The once hugely impressive Czechs left us unexpectedly after five brutal minutes of determination at the end by the Turks, and the Swedes only had to endure 90 minutes of pain before they took their last bow. They left Innsbruck with their dignity intact – but only just – as the Russians made the once powerful athletic specimens look like musclebound statues.

Henrik Larsson looked fit, mentally he knew precisely what to do and where to go but it was taking him a second longer to get there and that isn't good enough against such youthful vigour. Lars Lagerback has stuck with this team of honest toilers who have regularly progressed from the group stages in past tournaments. On Wednesday night, however, it became abundantly clear that the game had moved on and their brand of efficient power play has had its day.

The teams that were born in this tournament clearly cannot all win it but they could be among the movers and shakers in world football for the next decade. Happily they all have pace, skill and an emphasis on attack. The style has been championed by the Dutch, the Spanish, the Portuguese and the Russians.

Guus Hiddink's latest adopted nation have been threatening for a while. Qualifying at the expense of England raised a few eyebrows, Zenit outclassing Rangers in Manchester gave us a sneak preview but their arrival was announced officially to the world against Sweden.

There are probably UEFA technical committee gnomes and professional tacticians in Zurich already talking about that display in reverential tones. The performance had everything except the six or seven goals it deserved, but the chances were there in abundance. Sweden were famous for being well organised but it is many years since I have witnessed an international defence breached so effortlessly and so regularly. Whether it was down the flanks, through the middle or by runners from deep positions, the Swedes were continually outrun, outnumbered and out-thought.

This was an evening when we witnessed the genesis of what could be a very special outfit. With the confidence that sprang from the previous win against Greece, the depth of their quality was finally revealed. Every player was comfortable on the ball, could make sharp incisive passes and was happy to receive it under pressure. Every one of them can also run like an Olympic sprinter and, almost unsettlingly, also has the endurance of a marathon runner.

From a technical point of view the movement was as good as any team around. Hiddink tried manfully, but failed, to hide his pride in the work perfected on his training ground.

Coaches throughout the UK have long used the practice of playing possession games with no goals. The players have to sprint 10 yards after every pass to make an angle to receive it again. Failure to sprint results in lost possession and 20 press-ups for your entire team. It is a hugely unpopular exercise with most home grown players because it is physically and mentally exhausting, particularly as most regularly forget to run immediately after they play the pass.

If these rules had been imposed for the 90 minutes on Wednesday I doubt the Russians would have had to do any press-ups at all. Not only did they move, but they invariably moved quickly into intelligent positions when they released the ball. Their movement off the ball and decoy runs were equally impressive.

On the night they could also boast a few individuals who had something approaching perfect personal performances. Yuri Zhirkov, the left back – well, he lined up there anyway – popped up in every position on the field to devastating effect. He laid on the second goal for Andrei Arshavin by intercepting in his own half, then rocketing up the length of the pitch, a gang of Swedes trailing in his wake, before weighting an inch perfect pass to the Zenit player. It just summed up the play of the most nightmarish left back I could ever imagine playing against.

The scorer of that particular goal was however the most obvious player to catch the eye. Russia are a team first and foremost but to make them really special they need a visionary genius to take them that next step and Arshavin is that man.

He played passes in that game that most top players would not have considered. Mere mortals like myself couldn't see them coming from 80 feet above in the stand, with a clear overview and only a commentator pressuring me, not two burly Swedish defenders intent on GBH.

There are weaknesses in the team but they are young in an international sense. Their time will come as long as they have the peerless Hiddink tutoring them, instilling confidence and working on their psychology. On a couple of occasions during his press conference in Innsbruck, the Dutchman inadvertently paraphrased Chinese philosopher Sun Tsu's Art Of War. Whether it is in sport, business or life, historically there is no better teacher of strategies, battle tactics and winning psychology. Guus knows what he is doing.

European football has been at a crossroads for some time but the dull, negative style that won the championship for Greece four years ago – and let's be honest propelled Rangers to the UEFA Cup Final and to a lesser extent served Scotland well in their qualifying group – has been found wanting in the face of a new dawn. Manchester United showed the way at club level by winning in Moscow and at least four of the quarter-finalists in the current tournament have also seen the light.

If ever a tournament has rekindled our enthusiasm for the beautiful game and provided a hopeful vision of the future, this has been it. If we are honest, we must also admit that this vision has been helped by the fact that the home nations were not there to cloud the view.