CAPELLO BACKS ARSHAVIN

The Russian national team manager Fabio Capello has said that he has no problems including the Arsenal winger Andrei Arshavin in the squad for the World Cup qualifying, but has said that the striker needs to improve the lot in order to warrant his inclusion. The former England manager has recently excluded Andrei Arshavin along with the former Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko from the squad for the two World Cup qualification matches that concluded recently. This has raised questions about the future of both these players at the national level, but the former Real Madrid manager has failed to rule them out of the running for the remaining World Cup qualifying matches.

He has said that their performance in the recent matches has not been up to the standard he has been expecting for the national team. Fabio Capello has been given the task of helping Russia qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup especially having missed out on the opportunity to play in the last World Cup. The Golden generation that includes the likes of Andrei Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko is coming to the end. Fabio Capello’s competitive fixtures got off to the best possible start after they won the first two World Cup qualifying matches.

“I chose the players based on a simple principle: who are enjoying top form at the moment. However the door is no closed for Arshavin, Pavel Pogrebnyak, Yuri Zhirkov and Pavlyuchenko to return to the first team action. Tomorrow’s match will be very important in terms of reaching the later stages of the tournament. We will strive to take all three points. Thank God, all the players are ready for the game. We had a great workout yesterday, so I think we have a chance,” said Fabio Capello after the 2-0 win over Northern Ireland.