Guus Hiddink, the coach of Russia's national football team, announced
his squad Monday for a friendly match at home against Latvia on Aug. 16.
The friendly, a warm-up for the European Championship 2008 qualifying
matches that begin in September, will be Hiddink's first game in charge
of the national team.
Hiddink gave a call-up to untested goalkeepers Dmitry Borodin of Torpedo
and Krylya Sovietov's Alexander Marakov, although CSKA stopper Igor Akinfeyev
retained his spot as Russia's No. 1.
Pavel Pogrebnyak, a 22-year-old striker, was rewarded with a place in
the squad after netting six times for his club, Tom Tomsk. He is joined
up front by regulars Andrei Arshavin and Alexander Kerzhakov, both of
Zenit St. Petersburg, Lokomotiv's Dmitry Sychyov and Roman Pavlyuchenko
of Spartak Moscow.
Vladimir Bystrov of Spartak Moscow, who has been in impressive form recently,
and CSKA's Yury Zhirkov are suspended for the Latvia match.
Team captain Alexei Smertin of Dynamo was ruled out because of injury,
as was Spartak Moscow playmaker Yegor Titov.
Hiddink compiled the 19-man list after attending just six Premier League
games.
He has, however, watched hours of videotape of national team hopefuls
and has solicited advice from Alexander Borodyuk, who took over the team
temporarily after coach Yury Syomin quit last year following a failed
World Cup qualifying campaign.
