Russia struggle for form ahead of World Cup

Moscow: Russia’s early Confederations Cup exit has sparked a wave of concern among fans as the 2018 World Cup hosts scramble to avoid another embarrassment at next year’s finals.

Stanislav Cherchesov’s side slumped out of the World Cup warm-up event on Saturday with a 2-1 loss to Mexico that featured shaky goalkeeping and missed chances.

With less than a year to the World Cup finals, Russia are left with few options to add depth to their squad and unlike other countries fighting for a spot in the tournament, they will not have the chance to gauge their strength in qualifying.

“We won’t have new players tomorrow. This is our main team. Aliens aren’t going to fly in to play for Russia,” Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko, who also heads the Russian Football Union, said last week.

Russia’s Confederations Cup elimination adds to a long list of poor performances on the international stage, including early exits from last year’s European Championship and the 2014 World Cup finals, tournaments in which they failed to win a match.

President Vladimir Putin suggested this month that the presence of foreign players in the Russian Premier League could be thwarting the development of homegrown talent and conceded the country had not paid enough attention to youth development.

Russia also has work to do to increase participation levels. Some 2.7 million people — approximately 1.8 per cent of the population — play soccer in Russia, the RFU said this year.