Russia coach Fabio Capello has finalized his pre-selection for the upcoming World Cup in Brazil. After initially naming a 30-player list, he trimmed it down to 25 players on Friday.
Among the notable exclusions from the initial list are defenders Alexander Anyukov and Alexei Berezutsky, midfielders Yury Gazinsky and Vladimir Bystrov, and striker Artem Dzyuba, who have been relegated to the status of “reserves.”
Capello also made a late inclusion by calling up Sevilla striker Denis Cheryshev, who recently won the Europa League with his club, to replace veteran striker Pavel Pogrebnyak.
Here is the finalized 25-man squad for Russia:
Goalkeepers:
- Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow)
- Yury Lodygin (Zenit Saint Petersburg)
- Sergei Ryzhikov (Rubin Kazan)
Defenders:
- Vasily Berezutsky, Sergei Ignashevich, Georgy Shchennikov (CSKA Moscow)
- Vladimir Granat, Alexei Kozlov (Dynamo Moscow)
- Andrei Yeshchenko (Anzhi Makhachkala)
- Dmitry Kombarov (Spartak Moscow)
- Andrei Semenov (Terek Grozny)
Midfielders:
- Igor Denisov, Yury Zhirkov (Dynamo Moscow)
- Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow)
- Roman Shirokov (FC Krasnodar)
- Denis Glushakov (Spartak Moscow)
- Pavel Mogilevets (Rubin Kazan)
- Viktor Faizulin, Oleg Shatov (Zenit Saint-Petersburg)
Forwards:
- Denis Cheryshev (Sevilla FC/ESP)
- Alexander Kerzhakov (Zenit Saint Petersburg)
- Alexei Ionov, Alexander Kokorin (Dynamo Moscow)
- Maxim Kanunnikov (Amkar Perm)
- Alexander Samedov (Lokomotiv Moscow)
Russia is drawn in Group H for the World Cup, alongside South Korea, Belgium, and Algeria.
Tags: 25 players, Brazil, Fabio Capello, World Cup 2014, Russia
