Russia Squad

Russia squad is the hosts of the tournament, playing on home soil and in front of many of their fans. But will this advantage be enough for the team to perform well?

In our opinion, there are other important aspects to consider. The fact that the team doesn’t have many players who could be relied upon to deliver a decent and consistent gameplay in the world-class tournament such as the World Cup is troubling.

Russia Squad 2018 World Cup

Besides, some of the players that were in the preliminary squad have suffered injuries recently, which diminished Cherchesov’s options even further.

Nevertheless, here’s the Russian squad as it was confirmed to participate in this year’s World Cup.

• Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev, Vladimir Gabulov, Andrey Lunev.
• Defenders: Vladimir Granat, Fedor Kudryashov, Ilya Kutepov, Andrey Semenov, Sergei Ignashevich, Mario Fernandes, Igor Smolnikov.
• Midfielders: Yuri Gazinskiy, Alexsandr Golovin, Alan Dzagoev, Aleksandr Erokhin, Yuri Zhirkov, Daler Kuzyaev, Roman Zobnin, Alexsandr Samedov, Anton Miranchuk, Denis Cheryshev.
• Forwards: Artem Dzyuba, Aleksei Miranchuk, Fedor Smolov.

The team is quite old on average, yet they don’t have a lot of experience either. Still, the possibility of advancing to the round of 16 isn’t out of reach for the Russians.

Russia squad has some issues that make it less intimidating than the coach would have liked, but the hosts could still advance to the next round.