Russia gear up for final friendly against Chile in Moscow

With the final squads announced for the FIFA 2017 Confederations Cup, all the focus is now on the final warm-up games before the tournament kicks off on June 17.

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Hosts Russia will play Chile on Friday at the VEB Arena, home of CSKA Moscow, in their final friendly before taking on New Zealand in their opening game at the St. Petersburg Stadium.  

In an earlier warm-up match, Russia recorded a 3-0 win over Hungary in Budapest, with the only negative from the game being an injury to Spartak Moscow midfielder Roman Zobnin.  

At a news conference at the Balchug Hotel just a stone’s throw from Red Square on a baking hot day in the Russian capital, Head coach Stanislav Cherchesov was joined by Russia’s long-time No.1 goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev to review the Hungary win and preview their Chilean opponents.  

“The squad is in decent shape. Assuredly, the match against Chile, will be at a higher level. Today’s training will show who is most ready,” Cherchesov told reporters, championat.ru reported. 

“[Dmitry] Kombarov is fully fit, we simply did not want to risk him in the game against Hungary. I’ll say again, today we will find out, who is ready.  

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“I want to say that we don’t have a definite 11 for the tournament, just 20 players and 3 goalkeepers,” he added.  

Cherchesov also revealed plans for the team after the Chile match, confirming the players will take a rest directly after the game to see family, before traveling to St. Petersburg on June 15 for the opener.  

After the short news conference, the team headed to the Eduard Streltsov stadium, home of Torpedo Moscow, for a training session which was open to the press.  

Chile, meanwhile, fulfilled their own press obligations at the VEB Arena before a training session on the pitch.  

After Friday’s Russian encounter, Chile will travel to Cluj for their final friendly before their opener  against Romania on June 13.

Arsenal winger Alexis Sanchez and Bayern Munich midfielder Arturo Vidal have been named in Chile’s squad by manager Juan Antonio Pizzi.  

Chile qualified for the Confederations Cup by winning the 2015 Copa America, beating Lionel Messi’s Argentina on penalties.

The final 23-man Confederation Cup squads for both teams are listed below:

RUSSIA

Goalkeepers - Igor Akinfeev, Guilherme, Vladimir Galubov

Defenders - Igor Smolnikov, Roman Shishkin, Viktor Vasin, Georgy Dzhikya, Fedor Kudriashov, Ilya Kutepov, Dmitry Kombarov

Midfielders - Yuri Gazinski, Denis Glushakov, Ruslan Kambolov, Alexey Miranchuk, Aleksandr Golovin, Yury Zhirkov, Alexander Samedov, Aleksandr Erokhin, Dmitry Tarasov

Attackers - Dmitry Poloz, Fedor Smolov, Aleksandr Bukharov, Maksim Kanunnikov

CHILE

Goalkeepers - Claudio Bravo, Christopher Toselli, Johnny Herrera

Defenders - Eugenio Mena, Enzo Roco, Mauricio Isla, Paulo Diaz, Jean Beausejour, Gary Medel, Gonzalo Jara

Midfielders - Francisco Silva, José Fuenzalida, Arturo Vidal, Pablo Hernandez, Felipe Gutierrez, Charles Aránguiz, Marcelo Díaz 

Attackers - Alexis Sanchez, Angelo Sagal, Eduardo Vargas, Martin Rodriguez, Leonardo Valencia