On Friday, Guus Hiddink named his 23-man squad for Russia's final World Cup Qualifiers: October 10, hosting Germany (in Moscow) and October 14 in Azerbaijan.
If Russia came beat Germany in Moscow, they will almost certainly win UEFA's Group D (provided they can beat Azerbaijan). If they lose, the Azerbaijan match is meaningless, and they will head into UEFA's qualifying playoff.

In the wake of Russia's narrow omission from the World Cup as a result of a 1-0 loss to Slovenia in the second leg of their qualification playoff, reports are bubbling up that suggest Andrei Arshavin maybe didn't help the cause so much.

From the Daily Express:

Russia's skipper Arshavin apparently insisted on giving a tactics talk to his team-mates ahead of the second leg in Slovenia, with one account saying: "The only player who protested was Roman Pavlyuchenko.

Stuff to read while you watch an absolutely clinical own goal.... Valencia: Football club or soap opera? (SoccerLens) Brazilian fans select their beauty queen for the year. (Futbolita) Zenit buy back traitor who left for hated rivals; fans slightly displeased. (Zenit Offside) The night before Match of the Day.

Vladimir Bystrov has made the headlines thanks to his beautiful goal in the derby match against CSKA, which was his fourth in as many games for his new/old club Zenit. Not only did he score a great goal, but he terrorized CSKA defenders, most of whom are regulars in the national team, throughout the match despite playing through the pain barrier and the big European clubs must be regretting their decision not to sign him last summer.

Jogaram em Baku, no estádio Tofik Bakhramov, para um público de 17.000 pessoas, as seleções do Azerbaijão (125º no ranking da FIFA) e a seleção da Rússia (12º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções jogaram:
28-03-2009 - Rússia 2x0 Azerbaijão
O quarteto de arbitragem foi assim definido:
Árbitro: Howard WEBB-ING
Primeiro Assistente: Darren CANN-ENG
Segundo Assistente: Michael MULLAREY-ENG
Quarto Árbitro: Mark CLATTENBURG-ENG.