Capello omits Arshavin, Pogrebnyak

Russia coach Fabio Capello has left Arsenal forward Andrey Arshavin out of his 24-man squad to play 2014 FIFA World Cup™ Group F qualifying matches with Portugal and Azerbaijan in Moscow later this month. The 66-year-old coach also dropped Reading striker Pavel Pogrebnyak, calling up 22-year-old rookie Maxim Grigoriev of Lokomotiv Moscow to boost his team's attacking line. In defence, the former England manager picked two new players - Renat Yanbayev, who has recently joined Zenit St. Petersburg from Lokomotiv Moscow, and Vladimir Granat of Dynamo Moscow in place of CSKA Moscow's Georgy Schennikov, who was in the squad for last month's qualifiers against Northern Ireland and Israel. Capello also picked Zenit midfielder Igor Denisov, despite the fact that the 28-year-old has been dropped from the first team. The Italian, however, dropped another Zenit midfielder, veteran Konstantin Zyryanov, replacing him with Lokomotiv's Dmitry Tarasov. Russia squad: Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow), Anton Shunin (Dynamo Moscow), Vladimir Gabulov (Anzhi Makhachkala) Defenders: Alexander Anyukov, Renat Yanbayev (both Zenit St. Petersburg), Alexei Berezutsky, Vasily Berezutsky, Sergei Ignashevich (all CSKA Moscow), Andrei Yeshchenko (Lokomotiv Moscow), Vladimir Granat (Dynamo Moscow) Midfielders: Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Dmitry Kombarov (both Spartak Moscow), Vladimir Bystrov, Igor Denisov, Viktor Faizulin, Roman Shirokov (all Zenit St. Petersburg), Denis Glushakov, Alexander Samedov, Dmitry Tarasov (all Lokomotiv Moscow), Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow) Forwards: Artem Dzyuba (Spartak Moscow), Maxim Grigoriev (Lokomotiv Moscow), Alexander Kerzhakov (Zenit St. Petersburg), Alexander Kokorin (Dynamo Moscow) From Fifa