MOSCOW (AP) -Guus Hiddink selected a largely youthful roster on Tuesday for Russia's upcoming European championship qualifier against Macedonia, dropping longtime captain Alexei Smertin and Alexander Kerzhakov.
The Dutchman chose Roman Shishkin and Dmitri Torbinskiy of Spartak Moscow for the first time, as well as CSKA Moscow defender Ivan Taranov and Zenit St. Petersburg midfielder Igor Denisov.
Former Chelsea midfielder Smertin and Zenit's Kerzhakov were the biggest surprise absentees from the roster posted on the Russian Football Union's Web site.
CSKA Moscow defender Sergei Ignashevich was chosen for the Nov. 15 match in Skopje despite picking up an injury in a game last weekend against Zenit.
It will be the first away match for Russia, which has drawn in two of its three home matches in Group E.
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Roster:
Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow), Dmitri Borodin (FC Torpedo Moscow), Viacheslav Malafeev (Zenit St. Petersburg);
Defenders: Aleksei Berezutskiy (CSKA Moscow), Vasili Berezutskiy (CSKA Moscow), Sergei Ignashevich (CSKA Moscow), Ivan Taranov (CSKA Moscow), Denis Kolodin (Dinamo Moscow), Roman Shishkin (Spartak Moscow);
Midfielders: Evgeni Aldonin (CSKA Moscow), Yuri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow), Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (Lokomotiv Moscow), Vladimir Bystrov (Spartak Moscow), Aleksei Rebko (Spartak Moscow), Yegor Titov (Spartak Moscow), Dmitri Torbinskiy (Spartak Moscow), Igor Denisov (Zenit St. Petersburg), Igor Semshov (Dinamo Moscow);
Forwards: Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St. Petersburg), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Spartak Moscow), Pavel Pogrebnyak (Tom Tomsk), Ivan Saenko (Nuremberg), Dmitri Sychev (Lokomotiv Moscow).
