Russia Footballers Need 'Confidence Boost' Ahead of FIFA World Cup - Deputy PM

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Russian Football Union executive committee member Vitaly Mutko has said that the country's national football team could use "a confidence boost" ahead of the FIFA World Cup.
Sputnik

"We have kept an eye on all the [World Cup squad] players. We should stop looking back and discuss 'who could have been [included in the squad]' and so on. The squad is already defined, so let us support the players, let us give them a confidence boost so that they don't tremble when 80,000 fans start singing the [national] anthem," Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Russian Football Union executive committee member Vitaly Mutko told journalists.

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Earlier on Monday, Mutko attended the national team's training session at Moscow's CSKA Arena ahead of Tuesday's friendly against Turkey.

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Russia will host its first-ever FIFA World Cup from June 14 and July 15, with the host nation set to face Saudi Arabia in the opening match of the tournament at the 81,000-seat Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, before taking on Egypt and Uruguay in their other two Group A games.

 

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