Written by Shirom Kapur
These notes were gathered in preparation for our panel discussion of the favorites and dark horses for this year’s World Cup in Russia.
- Manager: Stanislav Cherchesov
- Record = Pl: 18, W: 5, D: 5, L: 8
- Second major tournament with Russia
- Only competitive soccer played was at the Confederations cup
- 30-1 odds to win – 12th
- WC 2018 Group:
- Saudi Arabia
- Egypt
- Uruguay
- Qualified as hosts
- Home support can give them an advantage, look at South Korea 2002
- Can build momentum as first game is relatively the easiest
- Lots of young players, less experience
- Most of squad from Russian league, none from top European leagues, except Cheryshev
- 3 key players out with knee injuries
- WC 2014 outcome:
- Finished 3rd in group stage behind Belgium and Algeria
- Did not win any game
- WC performance:
- Never won the world cup
- Have never gone past the group stage in the post soviet-union years
- Did not qualify in 2010, despite impressive Euro 2008 (semi final)
- Confederations Cup 2017 outcome:
- Finished 3rd in group stage behind portugal and mexico
- Euro 2016 outcome:
- Finished bottom of group behind Wales, England and Slovakia
- Recent Friendlies
- L 0-3 to Brazil
- L 1-3 to France
- L 0-1 Argentina
- D 3-3 Spain
- Tried to play all past world champions to show that they are not scared, but it didn’t work out
- Predicted 23-man squad
- GK: Igor Akinfeev, Andrey Lunev, Alexandr Selikhov
- Def: Yuri Zhirkov, Igor Smolnikov, Roman Neustadter, Fyodor Kudryashov, Mario Fernandes, Aleksandr Samedov, Vladimir Granat, Dmitri Kombarov, Ilya Kutepov
- Mid: Aleksandr Golovin, Alan Dzagoev, Denis Cheryshev, Roman Zobnin, Oleg Shatov, Denis Glushakov, Aleksei Miranchuk, Aleksandr Yerokhin
- FW: Fedor Smolov, Anton Zabolotny, Anton Miranchuk
- Key Players
- Igor Akinfeev – captain, most experienced
- Aleksandr Golovin – young, creative, impressive club form
- Fyodor Smolov – main goalscorer
- Alan Dzagoev
- Players missing out
- Aleksandr Kokorin – knee injury
- Georgy Dzikhiya – knee injury
- Viktor Vasin – knee injury
- Igor Denisov – quality defensive mid, but fallout with manager
- Andrey Arshavin – age
References:
2018 FIFA World Cup odds. (2017, October 11). Retrieved April 29, 2018, from http://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/id/20991480
Injuries leave host Russia limping ahead of World Cup | ABS-CBN Sports. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2018, from https://sports.abs-cbn.com/football/news/2018/03/23/injuries-leave-host-russia-limping-ahead-world-cup-39358
Russia national football team. (2018, April 29). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Russia_national_football_team&oldid=838803264
Russia Scores & Fixtures – ESPN FC – ESPN FC. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2018, from http://www.espnfc.com/team/russia/454/fixtures
World Cup 2018 Preview – Team-by-team Analysis. (2018, January 12). Retrieved April 29, 2018, from https://www.betshoot.com/blog/world-cup-2018-preview/
World Cup news: Russia forward Aleksandr Kokorin suffers tournament-ending injury | Goal.com. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2018, from http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/blow-for-russia-as-injury-puts-kokorins-world-cup-in-doubt/man9lccokdzb1dxkldv9yahl1
World Cup squads: Who is on the plane to Russia, and who is in limbo? (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2018, from http://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup/4/blog/post/3409676/world-cup-squads-who-is-on-the-plane-to-russia-and-who-is-in-limbo