Prem quartet named in Russia squad

25 September 2009 12:42
Yuri Zhirkov of Chelsea returns to the squad after injury and Tottenham's Roman Pavlyuchenko keeps his place despite few first-team opportunities at club level so far this season, while Everton newcomer Diniar Bilyaletdinov is in contention despite not featuring in the previous qualifier against Wales earlier this month. Arsenal's Andrey Arshavin is also included after recovering from a groin injury. Hiddink has been forced to hand a debut call-up to Spartak Moscow goalkeeper Soslan Dzhanaev after Dinamo Moscow's Vladimir Gabulov suffered a fractured skull in a league match between the two clubs that looks to have ruled him out for the rest of the year. There is also a recall for Lokomotiv Moscow's Dmitri Torbinsky, who takes the place of another Dinamo injury casualty - defender Denis Kolodin. The crunch match against Germany at the Luzhniki Stadium on October 10 will go a long way towards deciding the outcome of Group 4. Germany currently lead the group by one point but a Russian victory would put Hiddink's men in a very strong position to take the one automatic qualifying spot, with their final fixture a seemingly straightforward task away to bottom-placed Azerbaijan. But a point or better for Joachim Low's men in Moscow will leave the Germans' destiny in their own hands as they go into their final match at home to Finland four days later. Russian squad: Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev, Vyacheslav Malafeev (Zenit St Petersburg), Soslan Dzhanaev (Spartak Moscow). Defenders: Aleksandr Anyukov (Zenit St Petersburg), Vasili Berezutsky, Sergei Ignashevich, Aleksei Berezutsky (all CSKA Moscow), Yury Zhirkov (Chelsea), Renat Yanbaev (Lokomotiv Moscow). Midfielders: Diniar Bilyaletdinov (Everton), Vladimir Bystrov, Igor Denisov, Konstantin Zyryanov, Igor Semshov (all Zenit St Petersburg), Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow), Aleksei Rebko, Sergei Semak (Rubin Kazan), Dmitri Torbinsky (Lokomotiv Moscow). Strikers: Andrey Arshavin (Arsenal), Aleksandr Bukharov (Rubin Kazan), Aleksandr Kerzhakov (Dinamo Moscow), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Tottenham), Pavel Pogrebniak (Stuttgart).

Source: Team_Talk