NEUSTIFT IM STUBAITAL, May 30 (Sputnik) - CSKA Moscow and Russia defender Mario Fernandes, who has been named in the country's preliminary FIFA World Cup squad, told Sputnik Wednesday that the team's head coach Stanislav Cherchesov was a "true leader" and a "great coach."
"Cherchesov is a true leader. He's a great, self-confident coach," Fernandes said adding that he was learning a lot under Cherchesov's management.
The 27-year-old naturalized Brazilian is currently training with the rest of the squad in Austria ahead of Russia's warm-up friendlies against Austria in Innsbruck later on Wednesday and against Turkey in Moscow on June 5.
Fernandes had been capped once for Brazil before becoming a Russian citizen and making a total of three international appearances for his new country since 2017.
Russia's first-ever FIFA World Cup will take place from June 14 to July 15 in 11 host cities, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Saransk, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg, and Sochi.
The hosts will take on Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay in Group A.
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