Population: 144.5 million
Capital: Moscow
Team Colors: Red, White, and Blue
How Qualified: Host Country
Nickname: Sbornaya (The National Team)
11th World Cup
Head Coach: Stanislav Cherchesov (RUS)
Key Players: Fyodor Smolov (Krasnodar), Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow), Aleksandar Golovin (CSKA Moscow)
Best Performance: Fourth Place (1966)
Can they make the most of being the hosts? Russia does have a tall order in this World Cup, but a soft group might help. Since 1994, they have only made it out of the group stage of a major tournament once (a semifinal appearance at Euro 2008). There was a fourth place as the Soviet Union in 1966 and a Euro title in 1960, but that’s been about it at the senior level.
They will need to make the most of their home-field advantage. Most of their 2017 friendlies were against non-European teams thanks to the insertion of Gibraltar and Kosovo in World Cup Qualifying and all but one match in 2017, friendly or otherwise, was in Russia. Form is another issue as they have one just once in their last eight matches.
Perhaps Russia could thank their lucky stars that their group is softer than most opening against Saudi Arabia, then Egypt, and then Uruguay. Based on that, the group is passable, but if they struggle, then the prospect of being just the second host nation to not get out of the group stage looks possible.
The preliminary squad is mostly domestic with just three of the 35 players named playing club football outside Russia. Inside Russia, 23 of the 35 players play for either CSKA (6), Lokomotiv (4), Spartak (5), or Zenit St. Petersburg (7). So expect a mostly, if not totally, domestic final squad.
This is not the strongest squad in the World Cup who is fortunate to not be in the strongest group. Defense is an issue and if they are not sorted by June 14th, then they might emulate South Africa for a rather dubious distinction.
Schedule:
June 14: vs. Saudi Arabia in Moscow (Luzhniki) (10am CT on FOX/Telemundo)
June 19: vs. Egypt in St. Petersburg (1pm CT on FOX/Telemundo)
June 25: vs. Uruguay in Samara (9am CT on FOX/Telemundo)
2018 World Cup
October, 2018
September, 2018
Russia
