your new favourite team

Yes, I know that’s quite a bold statement but as you get to know the Russian Premier League, you just might find yourself with a new favourite team. Given that the campaign runs from March to November (if you haven’t heard, it gets somewhat “brisk” during the Russian winters), we’re starting at an exciting time and will get the stretch-run in the championship race. Of course before we get started it’s probably best for an introduction of the teams, managers, a few of noteworthy internationally capped Russian players and then follow up with detailed team reports. Please don’t consider this list of players as complete as it is just a solid starting ground based upon domestic talent and will expand considerably.

So lets get started on your new favourite teams:

Zenit Saint Petersburg
Manager: Dick Advocaat
Current League Champions and UEFA Cup Champions
Players to watch: (GK) Vyacheslav Malafeev,(D) Aleksandr Anyukov, (D) Roman Shirokov, (M) Konstantin Zyryanov, (M) Viktor Fayzulin, (M) Andrei Arshavin, (S) Pavel Pogrebnyak

Spartak Moscow
Runner-up in the RPL in each of the last three years
Manager: Stanislav Cherchesov
Players to watch: (GK) Soslan Djanaev, (D) Fyodor Kudryashov, (D) Andrey Ivanov, (M) Vladimir Bystrov, (M) Aleksandr Pavlenko, (S) Artyom Dzyuba, (S) Aleksandr Prudnikov (F) Roman Pavlyuchenko

CSKA Moscow
Third-place last year, after winning the last two titles
Manager: Valery Gazzaev
Players to watch: (GK) Igor Akinfeev, (D) Aleksei Berezutskiy, (D) Vasili Berezutskiy,(D) Sergey Ignashevich, (M) Yuri Zhirkov

Rubin Kazan
Manager: Kurban Berdyyev
Players to watch: (M) Sergei Semak, (M) Aleksandr Ryazantsev, (F) Roman Adamov

Amkar Perm
Manager: Miodrag Božović

FC Moscow
Manager:Oleg Blokhin
Players to watch: (D) Kirill Nababkin

Dinamo (Dynamo) Moscow
Manager: Andrey Kobelev
Players to watch: (GK) Vladimir Gabulov, (GK) Anton Shunin, (D) Denis Kolodin, (D) Vladimir Granat, (D) Anton Rudakov, (M) Igor Semshov, (M) Kirill Kombarov, (M) Dmitri Kombarov, (S) Fyodor Smolov, (S) Aleksandr Kerzhakov

Lokomotiv Moscow
Manager: Rashid Rakhimov
Players to watch:(M) Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, (D) Renat Yanbayev, (M) Dmitri Torbinski, (F) Dmitriy Sychev

Saturn Moscow Oblast
Manager:Gadzhi Gadzhiev
Players to watch: (S) Dmitri Kirichenko

Khimki
Manager: Sergei Yuran

Krylia Sovetov Samara
Manager:Leonid Slutsky
Players to watch: (D) Ivan Taranov, (M) Oleg Ivanov, (M) Ivan Taranov

Luch-Energiya Vladivostok
Manager: Zoran Vulić
In a very abstract comment for the scope of this review, I think it should be noted that this club hails from Vladivostok which is on the far eastern coast of Russia along the Pacific Ocean. Their weekly travel is a remarkable challenge.

Shinnik Yaroslavl
Manager: Ivan Lyakh

Spartak Nalchik
Manager:Yuri Krasnozhan
Players to watch: (M) Oleg Samsonov, (S) Nazir Kazharov

Terek Grozny
Manager: Vyacheslav Grozny

Tom Tomsk
Manager: Miroslav Romaschenko
Players to watch: (D) Viktor Stroyev

Standings as of July 29, 2008
(matches // wins // losses // draws // total points)
FK Rubin Kazan -15// 8 // 5 // 2 // 29
FK Amkar Perm’ -15// 8 // 3 // 4 // 27
Dinamo Moscow -15 // 8 // 3 // 4 //27
Lokomotiv Moscow -15 // 6 // 6 // 3 // 24
Spartak Moscow -15 // 6 // 6 // 3 // 24
Spartak Nalchik -15 // 6 // 2 // 20
CSKA Moscow -14 // 5 // 5 // 4 // 20
FK Tom’ Tomsk -15 // 5 // 4 // 6 // 19
Samara Kryliya Sovetov - 14 // 4 // 7 // 19
Terek Grozny – 14 // 5 // 3 // 6 // 18
Zenit St Petersburg – 13 // 4 // 6 // 3 // 18
Saturn Moscow – 14 // 4 // 5 // 5 // 17
FC Moscow -15 // 3 // 7 // 5 // 14 //16
Luch-Energiya Vladivostok – 15 2 // 6 // 7 // 12
YFK Shinnik Yaroslav - 15 // 2 // 5 // 8 // 11
FC Khimki – 15 // 2 // 5 // 8 // 11

Now with all this in mind, later today in Moscow an incredibly important match between visiting Zenit St Petersburg and CSKA Moscow takes place. Zenit has had a very rough first half of the season and lost a tough match on the weekend to Dinamo Moscow on a late goal after playing much of the match one man down. Prior to the start of the match, I’ll be filling you in more about it.

Category: Team News

Tags: Team News

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