THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOSCOW — Russia coach Dick Advocaat has dropped defender Roman Shishkin from his 26-men preliminary squad for the European championship because of illness.
Shishkin, who plays for Lokomotiv Moscow, has been suffering from an unspecified stomach illness since Tuesday. He was taken to hospital for tests Thursday. He is the second defender to quit the team just two weeks before the start of the tournament.
Vasiliy Berezutskiy of CSKA Moscow left on Monday due to slow recovery from a muscle strain in the right leg. He sustained the injury during the Russian league match against Moscow rival Spartak on April 30.
Russia will play Greece, the Czech Republic and Poland in Group A.