The new Russian national team manager Fabio Capello has decided to drop the former Chelsea winger Yuri Zhirkov for his first match incharge of the Russian national team. Russia will be facing a friendly match against Ivory Coast in Moscow on August 15. This match coincides just before the start of the league season for most of the countries in Europe. Russia will be hoping to field a strong team for this match. It is thought that Fabio Capello will be making a lot of decisions regarding the performance of the team in this friendly because it will be followed by the World Cup qualifiers in September.

Russia recently appointed the former England manager Fabio Capello, who has been out of work since signing from his England managerial position back in March. The Italian is expected to be in charge of the national team until the 2014 FIFA World Cup that will be held in Brazil. The former Real Madrid manager has surprised everyone by naming the Arsenal winger Andrei Arshavin as the captain of the national team, despite the controversy surrounding the 30-year-old. One high-profile player to miss out from the squad is the former Chelsea winger Yuri Zhirkov.

Fabio Capello has made changes to the national team squad that failed to get past the group stages of the Euro 2012. A total of 24 players were part of the squad that failed at the Euro 2012. Only 15 players have made it into the squad for the friendly, thus showing that Capello is looking to bring in new players who are hungry to establish themselves at the international level. One of the interesting inclusions in the first team of the Russian national team in this match is the former Everton midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, who was left out of the Euro 2012 squad.