Russia cuts squad down to 23 players

• by Soccer America , May 16, 2014

[WORLD CUP 2014] Striker Pavel Pogrebnyak, the lone foreign-based player on Russia's 30-player World Cup squad, was cut on Friday.

"I am a bit shocked and didn't believe that I had been excluded from the squad," said Pogrebnyak in an interview with Sovetsky Sport. Perhaps the bigger surprise was the striker was in the squad in the first place. He had not played for Russia since Euro 2012.

Also players on the first list were Alexander Anyukov (Zenit St. Petersburg), Alexey Berezutskiy (CSKA Moscow), Vladimir Bystrov (Anzhi Makhachkala), Yury Gazinskiy (Krasnodar) and Artem Dzyuba (Rostov). Forward Denis Cheryshev will train but not travel to Brazil.

Russia Roster (23 Players):
Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow), Yury Lodygin (Zenit St. Petersburg), Sergey Ryzhikov (Rubin Kazan).
Defenders: Vasili Berezutskiy (CSKA Moscow), Vladimir Granat (Dynamo Moscow), Andrey Eshchenko (Anzhi Makhachkala), Sergey Ignashevich (CSKA Moscow), Alexey Kozlov (Dynamo Moscow), Dmitry Kombarov (Spartak Moscow), Andrey Semenov (Terek Grozny), Georgi Schennikov (CSKA Moscow).
Midfielders: Denis Glushakov (Spartak Moscow), Igor Denisov (Dynamo Moscow), Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow), Yury Zhirkov (Dynamo Moscow), Alexey Ionov (Dynamo Moscow), Pavel Mogilevets (Rubin Kazan), Alexander Samedov (Lokomotiv Moscow), Victor Faizulin (Zenit St. Petersburg), Oleg Shatov (Zenit St. Petersburg), Roman Shirokov (Krasnodar).
Forwards: Maxim Kanunnikov (Amkar Perm), Alexander Kerzhakov (Zenit St. Petersburg), Alexander Kokorin (Dynamo Moscow)