Sports
Guus Hiddink
Hiddink names squad for Slovenia clashes
Published 02 November, 2009, 17:46
Team Russia head coach Guus Hiddink has announced the names of the 24 players who will be preparing for this month’s World Cup 2010 crucial qualifiers against Slovenia.
Dynamo Moscow goalkeeper Vladimir Gabulov and his teammate Denis Kolodin – both of whom have recently recovered from serious injuries – as well as Dmitry Sychev of Lokomotiv Moscow are the new faces in the list since October’s battles against Germany and Azerbaijan.
Meanwhile, out of the two top Russian Premier League clubs – Rubin and Spartak Moscow – only Rubin’s captain Sergey Semak will hit the pitch. This is after Hiddink decided not to recruit Rubin’s forward Aleksandr Bukharov – the best Russian top scorer in the league, nor Soslan Dzhanaev – Spartak’s main keeper – either.
The list is as follows:
Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (CSKA), Vyacheslav Malafeev (Zenit), Vladimir Gabulov (Dynamo Moscow);
Defenders: Aleksandr Anyukov (Zenit), Aleksey Berezutsky, Vasily Berezutsky, Sergey Ignashevich (all from CSKA), Yury Zhirkov (Chelsea, England), Denis Kolodin (Dynamo Moscow), Renat Yanbaev (Lokomotiv Moscow);
Midfielders: Diniar Bilyaletdinov (Everton, England), Vladimir Bystrov, Igor Denisov, Konstantin Zyrianov, Igor Semshov (all from Zenit), Aleksey Rebko (FC Moscow), Sergey Semak (Rubin), Alan Dzagoev (CSKA), Dmitry Torbinsky (Lokomotiv Moscow).
Forwards: Andrey Arshavin (Arsenal, England), Aleksandr Kerzhakov (Dynamo Moscow), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Tottenham, England), Pavel Pogrebnyak (Stuttgart, Germany), Dmitry Sychev (Lokomotiv Moscow).
The players will get together on November 10 to begin preparations for the matches. The two-legged play-offs will be contested on November 14 in Moscow and November 18 in Maribor.
