Russia will be without first-choice goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev against Andorra and Croatia in qualifiers for the 2008 European Championship in June.

Zenit St. Petersburg goalkeeper Viacheslav Malafeev replaced Akinfeev in the 23-man squad released Friday.

Russia coach Guus Hiddink included two newcomers - Kuban goalkeeper Vladimir Gabulov and midfielder Viktor Budyanskiy from Serie A club Ascoli.

Akinfeev has conceded just one goal in Russia's five Euro 2008 qualifiers so far. But he tore ligaments in his left knee during a collision in a Russian league match on May 6 and could be out for up to six months.

Russia will host Andorra in St. Petersburg on June 2 and travel to Croatia four days later.

Russia has 11 points after five matches in Group E and is tied for second place with Israel and England. Croatia tops the standings with 13 points, while Andorra and Estonia are last with no points.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Viacheslav Malafeev (Zenit St. Petersburg), Dmitri Borodin (FC Torpedo Moscow), Vladimir Gabulov (Kuban);

Defenders:

Sergei Ignashevich (CSKA Moscow), Alexei Berezutskiy (CSKA Moscow), Vasili Berezutskiy (CSKA Moscow), Denis Kolodin (Dinamo Moscow), Alexander Anyukov (Zenit St. Petersburg), Roman Shishkin (Spartak Moscow), Sergei Yefimov (Lokomotiv Moscow);

Midfielders:

Yuri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow), Diniyar Belyaletdinov (Lokomotiv Moscow), Igor Semshov (Dinamo Moscow), Konstantin Zyryanov (Zenit St. Petersburg), Viktor Budyanskiy (Ascoli), Dmitri Torbinskiy (Spartak Moscow), Alexei Rebko (Spartak Moscow), Vladimir Bystrov (Spartak Moscow);

Forwards:

Ivan Sayenko (FC Nuremberg), Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St. Petersburg), Pavel Pogrebnyak (Zenit St. Petersburg), Alexander Kerzhakov (Sevilla), Dmitri Sychev (Lokomotiv Moscow).

News source: msn.foxsports.com
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