Advocaat names strong Russia squad for Iran

PFDC – MOSCOW, Russia headcoach Dick Advocaat selected a strong squad for Russia’s friendly match against Iran, which will be held on February 9.

The biggest share of the players are earning their money at top clubs in Russia, however, the squad is spareheaded by England legionnaires Andrej Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko.

The match will be financed by the same sponsor, who had already made the Brazil game in autumn possible, and therefore again will be held in Abu Dhabi.

Iran, who bowed out of the Asian Cup just last week after losing to Korea Republic after extra time in quarterfinals, are yet to announce a new headcoach after Afshin Ghotbi’s departure to J-League outfits Shimizu S-Pulse.

Below comes the Russian squad for the friendly match against Iran.

Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow), Vyacheslav Malafeyev (Zenit).

Defenders: Alexander Anyukov (Zenit), Alexei Berezutsky, Vasily Berezutsky, Sergei Ignashevich (all – CSKA), Roman Shishkin (Lokomotiv Moscow).

Midfielders: Vladimir Bystrov, Igor Denisov, Konstantin Zyryanov, Roman Shirokov (all – Zenit), Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (Everton, England), Alan Dzagoev, Pavel Mamaev (both – CSKA Moscow), Dmitry Torbinsky (Lokomotiv Moscow), Igor Semshov (Dynamo Moscow).

Forwards: Andrei Arshavin (Arsenal, England), Alexander Kerzhakov (Zenit), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Tottenham, England), Pavel Pogrebnyak (Stuttgart, Germany).