Russia Coach: Fabio Capello
The Italian maestro is in charge of Russia side having resigned from his post as England coach couple of years ago, under him Russia is compact unit which is hard to break down, Russia still use that 4-3-3 formation which previous coach Guus Hiddink installed by Cappelo made it a touch more defensive. He has the pedigree and a quality squad whatever players he choose.
Possible Starting Lineup of Russia:
The 4-3-3 formation becomes 4-5-1 when russia dont have the ball, Capello likes his team to have a solid defence and play on counter attacks and since Capello took over this system seems to be working quite well for the russians. Although Russia will be looking to play a little more attractive than Capello’s England side in world cup 2010.
Key Player: Aleksander Kerzhakov & Alan Dzagoev:
Zenit striker Kerzhakov was the top scorer in the russian league this season, at the age of 31 he is at the peak of his career going into the world cup and he will be hoping that Alan Dzagoev is in top form who is easily Russia best player and hope for some spark through midfield.
Quality Youngster: Denis Cheryshev
23 year old winger might be the only player in the russia squad who is not playing his club football in russia. Cheryshev is playing for Sevilla this moment on loan from Real Madrid.
Russia World Cup Fixtures:
- South Korea (17 June )
- Belgium ( 22 June )
- Algeria ( 26 June )
Russian Team Squad for 2014 World Cup (Expected)
Fabio Cappelo will be looking to take combination of experience and youth with the russia team squad for fifa world cup, the final 23 man squad will be announced 3rd week of may and we will update the page once officialy announcement has been made. below is the expected list of players.
PLAYER | CLUB | AGE | POSITION | |
1 | Igor Akinfeev | CSKA Moscow | GK | |
2 | Yuri Lodygin | Zenit St. Petersburg | GK | |
3 | Vladimir Gabulov | Dynamo Moscow | GK | |
4 | Sergei Ignashevich | CSKA Moscow | Defender | |
6 | Vasili Berezutski | CSKA Moscow | Defender | |
6 | Alexei Berezutski | CSKA Moscow | Defender | |
7 | Dmitri Kombarov | Spartak Moscow | Defender | |
8 | Aleksandr Anyukov | Zenit St. Petersburg | Defender | |
9 | Andrey Yeshchenko | Anzhi | Defender | |
10 | Aleksei Kozlov | Dynamo Moscow | Defender | |
11 | Vladimir Granat | Dynamo Moscow | Defender | |
12 | Yuri Zhirkov | Dynamo Moscow | Midfielder | |
13 | Roman Shirokov | Krasnodar | Midfielder | |
14 | Igor Denisov | Dynamo Moscow | Midfielder | |
15 | Denis Glushakov | Spartak Moscow | Midfielder | |
16 | Viktor Fayzulin | Zenit | Midfielder | |
17 | Vladimir Bystrov | Anzh | Midfielder | |
18 | Alan Dzagoev | CSKA Moscow | Midfielder | |
19 | Oleg Shatov | Zenit | Forward | |
20 | Aleksandr Kerzhakov | Zenit | Forward | |
21 | Aleksandr Kokorin | Dynamo Moscow | Forward | |
22 | Fyodor Smolov | Anzhi | Forward | |
23 | Arytom Dzyuba | Rostov | Forward |