Russia | The Confederations Cup

The Russians are among the teams, which have never taken part in The Confederations Cup. They received their place as the hosts of the upcoming World Cup in 2018. Russia don’t compete in the qualifiers for The World Cup 2018, because they will qualify directly as a host nation. However, this tournament will be the team’s general test before the biggest international tournament in the world.

The History

Russia has its traditions in the international football. The team has never played in this tournament before, but since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has taken part in 3 world cups (1994, 2002 and 2014). Their biggest recent success is in the European Championship 2008, when they reached the semi-finals!

The Fixtures

17.06.2017 – Russia vs. New Zealand – Stadion Krestovskyi (St. Petersburg)

21.06.2017 – Russia vs. Portugal – Otkrytiye Arena (Moscow)

24.06.2017 – Mexico vs. Russia – Kazan Arena

The Squad:

Goalkeepers: 1. Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow), 12. Vladimir Gabulov (Arsenal Tula), 16. Guilherme Marinato (Lokomotiv Moscow);

Defenders: 2. Igor Smolnikov (Zenit), 3. Roman Shishkin (Krasnodar), 5. Viktor Vasin (CSKA Moscow), 6. Georgi Dzhikiya (Spartak Moscow), 10. Ruslan Kambolov (Rubin Kazan), 13. Fyodor Kudryashov (Rostov), 14. Ilya Kupetov (Spartak Moscow), 23. Dmitri Kombarov (Spartak Moscow);

Midfielders: 4. Yury Gazinsky (Krasnodar), 8. Denis Glushakov (Spartak Moscow), 15. Aleksei Miranchuk (Lokomotiv Moscow), 17. Aleksandr Golovin (CSKA Moscow), 18. Yuri Zhirkov (Zenit), 19. Aleksandr Samedov (Spartak Moscow), 21. Aleksandr Yerokhin (Rostov), 22. Dmitri Tarasov (Lokomotiv Moscow);

Forwards: 7. Dmitri Poloz (Rostov), 9. Fyodor Smolov (Krasnodar), 11. Aleksandr Bukharov (Rostov), 20. Maksim Kanunnikov (Rubin Kazan).

The Coach

Stanislav Cherchesov was appointed for the manager of Russia in August 2016. Since then, the national team of Russia has played 8 matches under his management. With a record of 3 victories, 2 draws and 3 defeats, we still cannot say whether Cherchesov will be successful or not. Moreover, all of these games have been friendlies. It’s interesting that all the included players in the squad for the upcoming competition are from the Russian championship.

Most of the players, who has been selected in the squad are with less than 6-7 appearances for their nation. However, that’s mainly because 5 key players have received injuries and will miss the competition. Among them are Artyom Dzyuba, Alan Dzagoev, Roman Zobnin and Roman Neustaedter.

We don’t have key players for this tournament. All that I can say is that we have 3 goalkeepers and 20 players. Stanislav Cherchesov