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For the first time since 2002, the enigmatic Russians return to the World Cup, this time under the stewardship of Fabio Capello.
Regulars in the European Championships, Russia will hope to make it out of the group stages for the first time since the breakup of the Soviet Union and a good performance is all the more vital given that they host the World Cup in 2018.
This time round they topped their qualifying group, finishing ahead of Portugal, and they return with a squad drawn from their own wealthy but foreign-heavy domestic league.
Experience forms the backbone of the team with former Chelsea left-back Yuri Zhirkov, Dynamo Moscow midfielder Igor Denisov and CSKA Moscow centre-back Igor Ignashevich remaining important.
Their star of Euro 2012, Alan Dzagoev is also included, although Andrei Arshavin's last chance to play at a World Cup finals went up in smoke after Capello omitted him throughout the 2014 qualifying campaign.
Capello will have learnt lessons from his 2010 with an England squad including John Terry, but he will be happy with the fact that Russia conceded just five goals in 10 qualifiers.
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Euro Footy Focus: Why are Russia punching below their weight?
World Cup Record
Appearances: 3
Group stage: (1994 and 2002)
Squad
Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow), Yury Lodygin (Zenit St. Petersburg), Sergey Ryzhikov (Rubin Kazan)
Defenders: Vasili Berezutskiy (CSKA Moscow), Vladimir Granat (Dynamo Moscow), Andrey Eshchenko (Anzhi Makhachkala), Sergey Ignashevich (CSKA Moscow), Alexey Kozlov (Dynamo Moscow), Dmitry Kombarov (Spartak Moscow), Andrey Semenov (Terek Grozny), Georgi Schennikov (CSKA Moscow)
Midfielders: Denis Glushakov (Spartak Moscow), Igor Denisov (Dynamo Moscow), Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow), Yury Zhirkov (Dynamo Moscow), Alexey Ionov (Dynamo Moscow), Alexander Samedov (Lokomotiv Moscow), Victor Faizulin (Zenit St. Petersburg), Oleg Shatov (Zenit St. Petersburg), Pavel Mogilevets (Rubin Kazan)
Forwards: Maxim Kanunnikov (Amkar Perm), Alexander Kerzhakov (Zenit St. Petersburg), Alexander Kokorin (Dynamo Moscow)
Manager: Fabio Capello
Fixtures and Results
Group H
June 17 vs South Korea (Cuiaba) 1 - 1 (D)
June 22 vs Belgium (Rio de Janeiro) 1 - 0 (L)
June 26 vs Algeria (Curitiba) 1 - 1 (D)
