Capello brings England assistants to Russia

Moscow, Italian Fabio Capello, who is expected to take over as Russia football coach, will be bring in three of his assistants from his England days.

Capello is being described as the "de facto" Russia coach by the Russian Football Union (RFU), which says he has agreed the basic principles of a contract and will sign soon. Capello`s longtime assistant Italo Galbiati is set to make the switch to Russia after leaving England, while fitness coach Massimo Neri and goalkeeping coach Franco Tancredi will resume the same roles with Russia that they had with England, Former defender Christian Panucci, who played under Capello at AS Roma and briefly held a director`s role at Palermo, will be a scout for Russia, and former Lazio and Parma sporting director Oreste Cinquini is set to manage the backroom staff, the source said. There is also a local element to the team with Russia under-21 coach Nikolai Pisarev and former under-20 coach Andrei Talalaev both set to come on board, the source added. Capello attended two of last weekend`s Russian Premier League matches with Talalaev and Pisarev. If he signs, Capello`s first game in charge will be an Aug 15 friendly against the Ivory Coast in Moscow. His first competitive fixtures will be World Cup qualifiers on Sep 7 and 11, first at home to Northern Ireland and then away to Israel. IANS