Russian attack hit by injuries ahead of Germany showdown
Published 09 October, 2008, 08:38
Russia's injury problems continue to mount ahead of their World Cup 2010 qualifier with Germany this Saturday with Roman Pavlyuchenko now definitely ruled out of the squad.
Wednesday's training session at the Dynamo stadium was the team's last before departing for Germany. But it started badly, with the news that Spurs striker Pavlyuchenko would be out of action for the next three weeks.
And things would get worse during the session, as midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov was injured and had to be examined by doctors.
It casts doubt over his chances to play on Saturday and creates yet another selection problem for coach Guus Hiddink.
“Pavlyuchenko is out for a few weeks,” Hiddink said. “The doctors examined him today and it would be impossible to come back after such an injury so soon. So he is out of contention.”
“Pogrebnyak is going a little bit better. He practised today but he is not 100% yet. Today he’s a bit better than he was yesterday. We’ll see at the end of the week if he gets fit for the game.
And Bilyaletdinov had a problem during training. We’ll see his reaction to the injury, but he may recover in a few days.”
Meanwhile, there's been a morale boost for Russia ahead of that Germany challenge, with the news that they're now back in the top ten of the FIFA world rankings.
Russia's 2-1 win over Wales last month was enough to lift them three places and up to 9th in the world, with Turkey the side making way.
The top three teams stay the same, with Spain extending their advantage over Italy and Germany. Brazil climbed to fourth, moving above the Netherlands and Croatia.
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