MOSCOW, June 4 (Sputnik) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Russian Football Union executive committee member Vitaly Mutko said on Monday that all the players who had been named in the country's extended FIFA World Cup squad but did not make the cut for the final 23-man lineup were “the future” of the national team.
On Sunday, Russia head coach Stanislav Cherchesov announced his final squad for the FIFA World Cup. Goalkeeper Soslan Dzhanayev, defenders Roman Neustaedter and Konstantin Rausch, midfielder Aleksandr Tashayev and forward Fedor Chalov, who had been previously included in the 28-man squad, were all left out.
“First of all, it’s not so easy to define the 23 players. This is the [head] coach’s choice, he has his vision, and there is information that shouldn’t be disclosed… All the guys included in the extended list are our future. Chalov is our future. But we are facing the World Cup now,” Mutko told journalists.
He added that the players dropped from the final list could play for the national team in the future.
“But we have to go out and play tomorrow… There are three strikers now [Fedor Smolov, Artem Dzyuba and Aleksey Miranchuk who will deal with the challenges at the World Cup,” Mutko added.
Russia will host its first-ever World Cup from June 14 to July 15, with the hosts set to face Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Uruguay in Group A.
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