World Cup Hosts Russia Seek French Redemption

:After a beating by Brazil, Stanislav Cherchesov says injury-depleted Russia must show "more quality" when they host France in a World Cup warm-up on Tuesday.

Saint Petersburg, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Mar, 2018 ) :After a beating by Brazil, Stanislav Cherchesov says injury-depleted Russia must show "more quality" when they host France in a World Cup warm-up on Tuesday.

Cherchesov's men were thoroughly outplayed from start to finish on Friday by the five-time World Cup champions in a 3-0 loss in Moscow. It was a deflating performance that left 2018 World Cup hosts Russia with just one win, against South Korea in October, from their last five warm-up friendlies.

Russia's problems have been compounded by a string of injuries that have ruled out starting defenders Georgy Dzhikiya and Viktor Vasin and striker Alexander Kokorin for the June 14 to July 15 finals.

But although Cherchesov saw improvements compared to a 1-0 loss to Argentina last November, he said after a training session Monday: "The defeat did not make us very happy and we held a little meeting.

"Tomorrow we have a chance to redeem ourselves. We want to show much better quality against France." Russia's training session began after a minute's silence, held for the 64 victims of a fire that engulfed a shopping mall in Siberia on Sunday.

World Cup organisers and world football's governing body FIFA expressed their "heartfelt condolences" in a joint statement. Tuesday's clash in the brand new Saint Petersburg Stadium pits two teams thirsting for a win.

France want to avoid ending their World Cup preparations on a sour note after conceding a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 to Colombia at the Stade de France. And Cherchesov is desperate to restore team confidence heading into Russia's first home World Cup.

Yet his streak of bad luck continued over the weekend with the loss of three more players for Tuesday's game. Zenit Saint Petersburg midfielder Daler Kuzyayev had an old foot problem flair up and returned to his club.

His Spartak Moscow counterpart Roman Zobnin suffered a knee injury, while Rubin Kazan defenceman Ruslan Kambolov developed an undisclosed muscle strain. All three are expected to be healthy for the World Cup.

"We are simply trying to avoid further injuries," the Russia coach said. "We have too many as it is. It is better to err on the side of caution." Cherchesov will also play reserve goalkeeper Andrei Lunev of Zenit Saint Petersburg instead of CSKA Moscow's veteran Igor Akinfeev.

Lunev was accidentally kneed in the face by Rodrigo Moreno and stretchered off at the end of Russia's 3-3 draw against Spain in November. Cherchesov wants to see Lunev put in a steady display that can guarantee his spot as Akinfeev's back-up. Russia will have one last chance to fine-tune their squad on May 30 in Innsbruck against Austria and June 5 against Turkey in Moscow.