Russia names preliminary squad for 2018 FIFA World Cup

Moscow, May 11 (IANS) The Russian Football Union (RFU) on Friday published a list of 28 players selected to enter the preliminary roster of the national squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off next month in 11 cities across Russia.

Before the 2018 World Cup begins on June 14 in Moscow, hosts Russia are set to play two friendly matches -- on May 30 against Austria in Innsbruck and against Turkey here on June 5.

At the World Cup, Russia have been placed in Group A with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Uruguay.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicks off in 34 days with the opening match in Moscow. Russia selected 11 host cities to be the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup and they are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.

The final line-up of the Russian national football team must include 23 players and is required to be announced before June 4.

The Russian team will gather for their training session ahead of the global football championship on May 18 at the town of Novogrsk. Between May 20 and 31 they will stay at a training camp in Austria's Neustift im Stubaital.

According to the statement posted on the official website of the RFU, the extended line-up of players of the national football team for the World Cup is as follows:

Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow FC), Vladimir Gabulov (Bruges Belgium FC), Soslan Dzhanaev (Rubin Kazan FC), Andrey Lunev (Zenit St. Petersburg FC).

Defenders: Vladimir Granat (Rubin Kazan FC), Ruslan Kambolov (Rubin Kazan FC), Fedor Kudryashov (Rubin Kazan FC), Ilya Kutepov (Spartak Moscow FC), Roman Noishtedter (Fenerbahce Turkey FC), Konstantin Raush (Dinamo Moscow FC), Andrey Semyonov (Ahmat Grozny FC), Igor Smolnikov (Zenit St. Petersburg FC), Mario Fernandes (CSKA Moscow FC).

Midfielders: Yury Gazinsky (Krasnodar FC), Alexander Golovin (CSKA Moscow FC), Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow FC), Alexander Erokhin (Zenit St. Petersburg FC), Yury Zhirkov (Zenit St. Petersburg FC), Roman Zobnin (Spartak Moscow FC), Daler Kuzyaev (Zenit St. Petersburg FC), Anton Miranchuk (Lokomotiv Moscow FC), Alexander Samedov (Spartak Moscow FC), Alexander Tashaev (Dinamo Moscow FC), Denis Cheryshev (Villarreal Spain FC).

Forwards: Artyom Dzyuba (Arsenal Tula FC), Alexey Miranchuk (Lokomotiv Moscow FC), Fedor Smolov (Krasnodar FC), Fedor Chalov (CSKA Moscow FC).

The preliminary roster also lists seven players in reserve as they will not be attending the training camp and they are:

Goalkeeper: Maritello Guilherme (Lokomotiv Moscow FC)

Defenders: Vladislav Ignatiev (Lokomotiv Moscow FC), Dmitry Kombarov (Spartak Moscow FC)

Midfielders: Denis Glushakov (Spartak Moscow FC), Anton Shvets (Akhmat Grozny FC)

Forwards: Anton Zabolotny and Dmitry Poloz (both from Zenit St. Petersburg FC)

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