Moscow (AFP) – Russia coach Stanislav Cherchesov on Wednesday named an entirely home-based 23-man squad for the Confederations Cup, which the country will host from June 17.
Cherchesov chose five players from newly-crowned champions Spartak Moscow, although full back Roman Zobnin is not amongst them as he is sidelined with a knee injury sustained in Monday’s 3-0 friendly win over Hungary.
He has joined CSKA Moscow duo Mario Fernandes and Alan Dzagoev and Zenit St Petersburg striker Artem Dzyuba on the treatment table.
Russia, who are in Group A, will face New Zealand in the event-opening match in St Petersburg, European champions Portugal on June 21 in Moscow and Mexico on June 24 in Kazan.
World Cup holders Germany will clash with Australia, Cameroon and Chile in Group B.
Russian Squad
Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow), Vladimir Gabulov (Arsenal Tula), Marinato Guilherme (Lokomotiv Moscow)
Defenders: Roman Shishkin (Krasnodar), Viktor Vasin (CSKA Moscow), Georgy Dzhikia, Ilya Kutepov (both Spartak Moscow), Fedor Kudryashov (Rostov), Ruslan Kambolov (Rubin Kazan)
Midfielders: Igor Smolnikov, Yury Zhirkov (both Zenit St Petersburg), Yury Gazinsky (Krasnodar), Denis Glushakov, Alexander Samedov, Dmitry Kombarov (all Spartak Moscow), Alexander Golovin (CSKA Moscow), Alexei Miranchuk, Dmitry Tarasov (both Lokomotiv Moscow), Alexander Yerokhin (Rostov)
Forwards: Dmitry Poloz, Alexander Bukharov (both Rostov), Fedor Smolov (Krasnodar), Maxim Kanunnikov (Rubin Kazan)
