“We have kept an eye on all the [World Cup squad] players. We should stop looking back and discussing 'who could have been [included in the squad]' and so on. The squad is already defined, so let us support the players, let us give them a confidence boost so that they don’t tremble when 80,000 fans start singing the [national] anthem,” Mutko told journalists.

Earlier on Monday, Mutko attended the national team's training session at Moscow' CSKA Arena ahead of Tuesday's friendly against Turkey.

Russia will host its first-ever FIFA World Cup from June 14 and July 15, with the host nation set to face Saudi Arabia in the opening match of the tournament at the 81,000-seater Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, before taking on Egypt and Uruguay in their other two Group A games.