Russia includes Fulham's Pogrebnyak in Euro squad

MOSCOW (AP) — Fulham striker Pavel Pogrebnyak will be looking to make up for missed chances at the European Championship after Russia coach Dick Advocaat included him in a preliminary squad on Friday.

The powerful 28-year-old forward exploded onto the scene in January after arriving at Fulham from Stuttgart. He scored only minutes into his Fulham debut and went on to notch five goals in his first three matches, including a hat trick against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

After missing Euro 2008 due to injury, the former Zenit St. Petersburg star will be eager to make amends in Poland and Ukraine and add to his tally of eight goals in 31 internationals.

Russia will face Greece, Czech Republic and Poland in Group A, starting from June 8.

Advocaat is set to leave Russia after the tournament. The 64-year-old Dutchman was hired by PSV Eindhoven on a one-year contract for next season.

Advocaat took over from Guus Hiddink after Russia failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.

His lineup for Euro 2012 is a largely unchanged from the one that reached the tournament's semifinals four years ago. Advocaat dropped former Everton midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, who now plays for Spartak Moscow

Aside from Pogrebnyak, and Marat Izmailov of Sporting Lisbon, most team members play in the Russian league.

The team will start preparations for Euro 2012 on May 20. It will play three friendly matches until the end of the month. Russia will host Uruguay in Moscow on May 25 and will face Latvia and Italy in Switzerland on May 29 and June 1 respectively.

Russia has never won an international tournament as an independent state. The Soviet Union team featuring goalkeeping great Lev Yashin won the first ever European Championship in 1960.

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Squad:

Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeyev (CSKA Moscow), Vyacheslav Malafeyev (Zenit St. Petersburg), Anton Shunin (Dynamo Moscow).

Defenders: Alexander Anyukov (Zenit St. Petersburg); Alexei Berezutsky (CSKA Moscow), Vasily Berezutsky (CSKA Moscow), Sergei Ignashevich (CSKA Moscow); Vladimir Granat (Dynamo Moscow); Yuri Zhirkov (Anzhi), Dmitry Kombarov (Spartak Moscow), Roman Sharonov (Rubin Kazan), Roman Shishkin (Lokomotiv Moscow).

Midfielders: Igor Denisov (Zenit St. Petersburg), Konstantin Ziryanov (Zenit St. Petersburg), Roman Shirokov (Zenit St. Petersburg); Denis Glushakov (Lokomotiv Moscow), Magomed Ozdoyev (Lokomotiv Moscow), Igor Semshov (Dynamo Moscow).

Strikers: Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St. Petersburg), Alexander Kerzhakov (Zenit St. Petersburg); Alan Dzagoyev (CSKA Moscow), Artem Dzyuba (Spartak Moscow), Marat Izmailov (Sporting Lisbon), Alexander Kokorin (Dynamo Moscow), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Lokomotiv Moscow), Pavel Pogrebnyak (Fulham).