Moscow, Russia (My Sportsbook) - Russia coach Yuri Semin will choose a starting lineup for two World Cup qualifiers from the 25 players he called into training earlier this week.

Star striker Dmitri Sychev is not one of the players called into the squad. Sychev is sidelined with a serious knee injury.

Spartak Moscow's Yegor Titov is back in the squad after a nine-month drug suspension. Captain Alexei Smertin is also back after serving a one-match suspension for accumulating cautions. Smertin missed Russia's disappointing 1-1 draw in Latvia last month.

The Russians, who are in third place in Group 3, take on Liechtenstein on Saturday. They will then welcome Portugal for a Wednesday match in search of revenge. Portugal handed Russia an embarrassing 7-1 defeat late last year in World Cup qualifying action, costing coach Georgy Yartsev his job.

Russian can move even with second-place Slovakia with a win on Saturday. Slovakia has currently played one more game than Russia.

The complete Russian squad is:

GOALKEEPERS:

Sergei Ovchinnikov (Lokomotiv Moscow)

Igor Akinfeyev (CSKA Moscow)

Dmitry Borodin (Torpedo Moscow)

DEFENDERS:

Sergei Ignashevich (CSKA Moscow)

Vasily Berezutsky (CSKA Moscow)

Alexei Berezutsky (CSKA Moscow)

Vadim Yevseyev (Lokomotiv Moscow)

Dmitry Sennikov (Lokomotiv Moscow)

Denis Kolodin (Dynamo Moscow)

Alexander Anyukov (Zenit St Petersburg)

MIDFIELDERS:

Alexei Smertin (Charlton Athletic)

Yegor Titov (Spartak Moscow)

Vladimir Bystrov (Spartak Moscow)

Andrei Karyaka (Benfica)

Igor Semshov (Torpedo Moscow)

Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (Lokomotiv Moscow)

Dmitry Khokhlov (Lokomotiv Moscow)

Sergei Semak (Paris St Germain)

Yuri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow)

Yevgeny Aldonin (CSKA Moscow)

FORWARDS:

Alexander Kerzhakov (Zenit St. Petersburg)

Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St Petersburg)

Roman Pavlyuchenko (Spartak Moscow)

Dmitry Kirichenko (FC Moscow)

Pavel Pogrebnyak (Shinnik Yaroslavl)