Guus Hiddink, the team's vastly experienced Dutch new coach, announced Tuesday that he 26-year-old CSKA Moscow midfielder Aldonin would lead the team at the match.
"Actually, I am glad for Zhenya [Yevgeny]," the former Chelsea and current Dinamo Moscow midfielder, who misses Wednesday's friendly with Latvia due to knee problem, told his Web Site. "It is a great responsibility to be captain of the national team."
Smertin, 31, said the squad would be extremely motivated because the match will be the first under Hiddink, whom Russian fans expect to work miracles after he guided South Korea to the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup and took Australia to its World Cup debut this summer.
"With the arrival of Hiddink as head coach, the team will inevitably receive a kind of emotional boost and shake-up," said the combative midfielder and captain since 2002. "In my opinion, it is very important both for the players and coach to win the match and show [team's] high level and good football. A victory will improve team spirit."
Russia's national team failed to qualify for this year's World Cup in Germany in a campaign that saw a new nadir when the team was thrashed 7-1 by Portugal in October 2004. Although performances subsequently improved after Yury Syomin, one of the country's most respected managers, took over from Georgy Yartsev, it was not enough to save him and he resigned after the last game.
Russia will face England, Andorra, Estonia, Macedonia, Israel and Croatia in its Group E qualifiers for Euro-2008 and today's friendly is a general rehearsal before the September 6 qualifier against Croatia.
FIFA also announced in its monthly ratings that Russia had move up one place to 33rd since July.
