MOSCOW, October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Out-of-favor Tottenham Hotspur striker Roman Pavlyuchenko was deadly in training for Russia on Wednesday, scoring three times in seven-a-side training ahead of a vital World Cup qualifier against Germany.
Pavlyuchenko and teammates face Germany in Moscow on Saturday in the weekend's biggest European qualifier. Victory at the Luzhniki stadium will see Russia leapfrog the Germans into first place in Group 4 and an automatic qualifying spot for South Africa.
Russia final game of the qualifying campaign is away to Azerbaijan on October 14. Germany host Finland the same evening. The best eight second-placed teams in the groups play off against each other in November.
Wednesday's training session at the Luzhniki saw Russia's coach Guus Hiddink split the squad into three teams of seven, with Pavlyuchenko lining up alongside Chelsea's Yury Zhirkov, Rubin captain Sergei Semak and CSKA Moscow's teenage star Alan Dzagoyev.
Arsenal's Andrey Arshavin, in the same side as reported Manchester United target Igor Akinfeev, was also on target, although Pavlyuchenko and co. ran out winners of the three-team mini-tournament.
As with the November 2007 2-1 win over Steve McClaren's England, demand for tickets has been phenomenal ahead of the Germany game, with the Russian FA running a lottery to decide allocation.
Hiddink has a number of selection problems, with his main headache being whether or not to start with Pavlyuchenko, two-goal hero of that famous win over England.
Pavlyuchenko, with five goals, is Russia's leading scorer in the qualifiers, but has played less than half an hour of English Premier League football this season, kept on the bench by teammates Robbie Keane, Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe.
Zhirkov is also lacking match practice, with the former CSKA Moscow player as yet unable to force his way into the first team after missing the start of the season with injury.
"It's going to be difficult because the Germans always qualify, directly, or hopefully now, through the back door," Hiddink said after training on Tuesday.
