International Football: Advocaat keeps faith in Russia's old legs

Real test for Advocaat in September

Russia’s 1-0 win over Serbia in a friendly earlier this month has convinced Dutch manager Dick Advocaat that experience is the number one priority over youth in the upcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers against Macedonia and the Republic of Irelandnext month. The former Glasgow Rangers boss announced an unchanged 20-man squad that faced the Serbs inMoscowon August 10 for September’s home qualifiers. The Russians are engulfed in a three way tussle in a tight looking Group B that also includes Slovakia andArmenia.

The Russian media has in the past few months criticized Mr.Advocaat for ignoring the large pool of talented youngsters like Aleksey Ionov and Evgeny Makeev in favour of the experienced old guard that formed an integral part inRussia’s brilliant performance in Euro 2008. Andrei Arshavin and Alexander Kerzhakov were both named in the squad despite the duo’s injury fears after taking hard knocks in the game against Serbia.

Referring to the win over Serbia in Moscow and his decision to name an unchanged squad, the Dutch coach was quoted as saying, “I just don’t like to change players for the sake of making a change. Honestly, I don’t think I should change anything especially after a win.”

Russia have immense potential in terms of talented youngsters but Dick Advocaat is sticking to his tried and tested squad for a difficult couple of games that would virtually decide who qualifies automatically for Poland and the Ukraine next summer. In that respect experience might just play a key role in accomplishing the mission. The Russians, level on points with Ireland and Slovakia, entertain FYR Macedonia on September 2 before hosting Giovanni Trapattoni’s Republic of Ireland at the Luzhniki stadium four days later.

The full Russian squad for qualifiers against Macedonia and Ireland

Andrei Arshavin still a force to reckon with internationally

Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeyev (CSKAMoscow), Vyacheslav Malafeyev (Zenit St Petersburg).

Defenders: Sergei Ignashevich (CSKA Moscow), Alexei Berezutsky (CSKA Moscow), Vasily Berezutsky (CSKA Moscow), Yuri Zhirkov (Anzhi Makhachkala), Alexander Anyukov (Zenit St Petersburg), Roman Shishkin (Lokomotiv Moscow).

Midfielders: Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (Everton), Konstantin Zyryanov (Zenit St Petersburg), Roman Shirokov (Zenit St Petersburg), Igor Denisov (Zenit St Petersburg), Igor Semshov (Dynamo Moscow), Alan Dzagoyev (CSKA Moscow), Dmitry Torbinsky (Lokomotiv Moscow), Denis Glushakov (Lokomotiv Moscow).

Forwards: Andrei Arshavin (Arsenal), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Tottenham Hotspur), Pavel Pogrebnyak (VfB Stuttgart), Alexander Kerzhakov (Zenit St Petersburg).