Russian coach Fabio Capello announced the names of 30 players who could find themselves among travelers to the World Cup in Brazil, the first World Cup for Russia after 12 years of absence.
Fabio Capello has determined the 30 candidates on the broader list, and that list will be shortened to seven names by the end of this month.
All invited players play in the Russian clubs except Pavel Pogrebnyak, who plays for the English club, Reading, a club that competes in the Championship. Pogrebnyak’s longtime competitor for a place in attack of the national representation, Roman Pavlyuchenko is not even among the invited seven attackers.
Before leaving for the World Cup, Russia will play three testing matches against Slovakia, Norway and Morocco, and in Brazil they will be placed in a group with Belgium, South Korea and Algeria.
Candidates for the World Cup:
Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow), Yuri Lodigin (Zenit St Petersburg), Sergei Rižikov (Rubin Kazan)
Defenders: Alexander Anyukov (Zenit St Petersburg), Alexei Berezutski, Vasili Berezutski, Sergei Ignashevich, Georgy Ščenikov (CSKA Moscow), Vladimir Granat, Alexei Kozlov (Dinamo Moscow), Andrei Ješčenko (Anzhi Makhachkala), Dmitri Kombarov (Spartak Moscow) , Andrei Semenov (Terek Groznyi)
Midfielders: Igor Denisov, Yuri Zhirkov (Dinamo Moscow), Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow), Yuri Gazinskij, Roman Shirokov (FC Krasnodar), Denis Glušakov (Spartak Moscow), Pavel Mogilevec (Rubin Kazan), Viktor FAIZULIN, Oleg clocks (Zenit St. Petersburg)
Forwards: Vladimir Bystrov (Anzhi Makhachkala), Alexander Keržakov (Zenit St Petersburg), Artem Dzjuba (Rostov), Alexei Ionov, Alexander Kokorin (Dinamo Moscow), Maxim Kanunikov (Amkar Perm), Pavel Pogrebnyak (Reading) and Alexander Samedov (Lokomotiv Moscow)