Russia captain ruled out
Wednesday, June 2, 2004
Article summary
Russia have lost both first-choice central defenders after Viktor Onopko was ruled out of UEFA EURO 2004™.
Article body
Russia captain Viktor Onopko has been ruled out of UEFA EURO 2004™ with a knee injury.
'Onopko is out'
"Onopko is out, he has already left the squad and has gone home," Russia's general manager Aleksandr Chernov said. The 34-year-old central defender suffered the injury playing for his club FC Saturn Moskovskaya Oblast in last month's Russian Premier-Liga match against FC Rubin Kazan.
'We tried everything'
"We tried everything possible to help Onopko overcome his injury but just ran out of time," Chernov added. Onopko's withdrawal means that the Russians have now lost both of their first-choice central defenders. PFC CSKA Moskva's Sergei Ignashevitch, who also has a knee problem, left the squad on Tuesday and is due to undergo surgery next week. Striker Aleksandr Panov was also ruled out of the tournament yesterday.
Squad due
Russia coach Georgi Yartsev is due to name his 23-man squad later on Wednesday. His side begin their EURO 2004™ campaign against Spain on 12 June before taking on hosts Portugal and Greece in later Group A matches.
