Capello drops Arshavin for World Cup qualifiers

Russia manager Fabio Capello left Arsenal forward Andrei Arshavin out of his 24-man squad to play 2014 World Cup Group F qualifying matches with Northern Ireland in Moscow on September 7 and Israel at Ramat Gan four days later.

The 31-year-old Arshavin has scored 17 goals for Russia in 74 appearances since making his debut in 2002, but sits out the two matches along with Reading's Pavel Pogrebnyak and Lokomotiv Moscow's Roman Pavlyuchenko.

Capello, whose squad featured no players plying their trade outside Russia, will also be without Zenit St Petersburg goalkeeper Vtacheslav Malafeyev, who has decided to temporarily stop his international career, freeing up a space for Anzhi's Vladimir Gabulov.

Up front, Capello has teamed up young forwards Artem Dzyuba of Spartak Moscow and Dynamo Moscow's Alexander Kokorin with experienced Zenit marksman Alexander Kerzhakov.

And in defence Capello added three rookies to the set of time-tested veterans who have formed the backbone of the team's defence for years: Alexander Anyukov of Zenit, the Berezutsky twin brothers and Sergei Ignashevich, the latter trio all of CSKA.

Squad

Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeyev (CSKA Moscow), Anton Shunin (Dynamo Moscow), Vladimir Gabulov (Anzhi Makhachkala)

Defenders: Alexander Anyukov (Zenit St Petersburg), Alexei Berezutsky (CSKA Moscow), Vasily Berezutsky (CSKA Moscow), Sergei Ignashevich (CSKA Moscow), Georgy Shchennikov (CSKA Moscow), Taras Burlak (Lokomotiv Moscow), Andrei Yeshchenko (Lokomotiv Moscow)

Midfielders: Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (Spartak Moscow), Dmitry Kombarov (Spartak Moscow), Vladimir Bystrov (Zenit St Petersburg), Igor Denisov (Zenit St Petersburg), Viktor Faizulin (Zenit St Petersburg), Roman Shirokov (Zenit St Petersburg), Konstantin Zyryanov (Zenit St Petersburg), Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow), Denis Glushakov (Lokomotiv Moscow), Magomed Ozdoyev (Lokomotiv Moscow), Alexander Samedov (Lokomotiv Moscow)

Forwards: Artem Dzyuba (Spartak Moscow), Alexander Kerzhakov (Zenit St Petersburg), Alexander Kokorin (Dynamo Moscow)