Russia National Team manager Stanislav Cherchesov has named his extended 28-man squad for the 2018 World Cup, along with an extra seven reserves in case of injury. The main squad will now travel to Austria for a training camp and two final friendlies against Austria and Turkey.
The squad is as follows;
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28 players going to the training camp in Austria:
Goalkeepers
Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow), Soslan Dzhanaev (Rubin Kazan), Vladimir Gabulov (Club Brugge) and Andrei Lunev (Zenit St. Petersburg).
Defenders
Mario Fernandes (CSKA Moscow), Vladimir Granat, Ruslan Kambolov, Fedor Kudryashov (all Rubin Kazan), Ilya Kutepov (Spartak Moscow), Roman Neustädter (Fenerbahçe S.K.), Konstantin Rausch (Dinamo Moscow), Andrei Semenov (Akhmat Grozny) and Igor Smolnikov (Zenit St. Petersburg).
Midfielders
Denis Cheryshev (Villarreal C.F.), Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow), Aleksandr Erokhin (Zenit St. Petersburg), Yuri Gazinsky (F.C. Krasnodar), Aleksandr Golovin (CSKA Moscow), Daler Kuzyaev (Zenit St. Petersburg), Anton Miranchuk (Lokomotiv Moscow), Aleksandr Samedov (Spartak Moscow), Aleksandr Tashaev (Dinamo Moscow), Yuri Zhirkov (Zenit St. Petersburg) and Roman Zobnin (Spartak Moscow).
Forwards
Fedor Chalov (CSKA Moscow), Artem Dzyuba (Arsenal Tula), Aleksei Miranchuk (Lokomotiv Moscow) and Fedor Smolov (F.C. Krasnodar).
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Seven reserve players staying in Russia:
Denis Glushakov (Midfielder, Spartak Moscow), Guilherme (Goalkeeper, Lokomotiv Moscow), Vladislav Ignatiev (Defender, Lokomotiv Moscow), Dmitry Kombarov (defender, Spartak Moscow), Dmitry Poloz (Forward, Zenit St. Petersburg), Anton Shvets (Midfielder, Akhmat Grozny) and Anton Zabolotny (Forward, Zenit St. Petersburg).
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There are 13 clubs represented in the Russia squad, while the most represented side in the 28-man squad is CSKA Moscow, with five players. Zenit St. Petersburg and Rubin Kazan are just behind them with four players each. When expanding to the whole squad, Zenit become the most represented thanks to their two strikers, Poloz and Zabolotny, in the reserves list.
Upon first inspection, the main shocks are the exclusion of long-term Spartak and Sbornaya veterans Glushakov and Kombarov. The former almost scored against England in the 2016 Euro Cup, and is considered a leader in both the team and dressing room. However, both have suffered slight drops in form since last year’s title-winning season and are apparently suffering disruption at club level; the same reason why Igor Denisov is omitted. Glushakov also does have an injury to his outer knee ligaments, though the severity is not known, so whether this is a reason for his exclusion is pure speculation.
Exiled Zenit forward Dzyuba has been recalled to the squad thanks to being one of the form players in the RPL since the resumption of the season in March. His loan spell at Arsenal Tula has proven very fruitful, having scored five goals and assisted three in just nine appearances. His replacement at Zenit, Zabolotny, has been goalless since his transfer from Tosno and subsequently only makes the reserve list.
Aleksandr Kokorin, Georgi Dzhikiya, Viktor Vasin and Aleksandr Selikhov were all sure to be involved but unfortunately miss out due to injury, the former three incredibly all suffered awful ACL injuries since they returned to paly in March.
There are two uncapped players in the squad. Firstly, 23 year old Dinamo Moscow winger Aleksandr Tashaev, who has been a leading light for the Muscovites this season with seven goals and seven assists. Also called up for the first time is 20-year-old CSKA Moscow striker Fedor Chalov, who has been in the form of his life over the last two months. He has six goals and three assists in his last six appearances for CSKA. With star stiker Aleksandr Kokorin missing the tournament through injury, Chalov has taken the horse by the reins and secured a place in the Russia 28-man squad for himself.
Author: James Nickels
Born and raised in South Shields, the direct mid-point between Sunderland and Newcastle in North-East England during an era of sustained success and European football for the Magpies, while the Black Cats floundered in the lower divisions, so naturally I decided to support Sunderland. I’ve developed an interest in Russian football over the last decade or so, but it piqued while studying for my Masters’ Degree in Russian and Soviet History, and I’ve been hooked by Spartak Moscow ever since. Considers Eduard Streltsov the best of his generation, and a fond proponent of his repatriation.
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