Moscow: CSKA Moscow goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, Russia’s World Cup captain, announced on Monday he was retiring from international football after playing 111 times for his country.
Akinfeev, 32, said after 15 years with the national side he had decided to give way to his younger colleagues and to focus completely on his club duties.
“Every story has its beginning and its end. So, my story with the national team has come to its logical conclusion,” he said in a statement on CSKA’s website.
“It was a great honour for me to captain Russia’s national side at a home World Cup. I hadn’t even dreamt it could happen. But it has happened and it was probably the peak of my career.
“I leave with a clear conscience. A young and promising generation (of players) has appeared in Russia,” he added. “We must believe in our youth and support them.”
At the World Cup, Akinfeev played every minute of Russia’s matches as they confounded pre-tournament predictions by reaching the last eight, where they were beaten by eventual finalists Croatia in a penalty shoot-out. Akinfeev saved a penalty from Iago Aspas in the last-16 shoot-out against Spain that secured Russia a place in the quarter-finals.
He made his debut for Russia in 2004. He was a member of the national squad which reached the last four of Euro 2008 and played for Russia at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Zenit’s Andrey Lunev played in last month’s games against Turkey and the Czech Republic and now looks set to have the chance to establish himself as Russia’s first-choice goalkeeper.
Anton Shunin of Dynamo Moscow and the Brazilian-born Guilherme Marinato are also in the squad for this month’s Nations League games against Turkey and Sweden.
Russia squad
Goalkeepers: Guilherme Marinato (Lokomotiv Moscow), Andrey Lunev (Zenit St Petersburg), Anton Shunin (Dynamo Moscow)
Defenders: Georgy Dzhikia (Spartak Moscow), Fyodor Kudryashov, Yegor Sorokin (both Rubin Kazan), Elmir Nabiullin, Igor Smolnikov (both Zenit St Petersburg), Roman Neustadter (Fenerbahce/TUR), Konstantin Rausch (Dynamo Moscow), Andrei Semyonov (Akhmat Grozny), Mario Fernandes (CSKA Moscow)
Midfielders: Yury Gazinsky (Krasnodar), Alexander Golovin (Monaco/FRA), Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow), Roman Zobnin (Spartak Moscow), Alexander Erokhin, Daler Kuzyaev (both Zenit St Petersburg), Alexei Ionov (Rostov), Ruslan Kambolov (Rubin Kazan), Alexei Miranchuk (Lokomotiv Moscow), Denis Cheryshev (Valencia/ESP)
Forwards: Artem Dzyuba, Anton Zabolotny (both Zenit St Petersburg), Dmitry Poloz (Rubin Kazan)
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