The Russian Football Federation refused to upgrade the artificial pitch England will play on in Moscow later this month following Russia's defeat at Wembley, according to a representative of the company who laid it.

England and Russia meet at the Luzhniki Olympic Stadium on October 17 in what is effectively a Euro 2008 qualification play-off for the runners-up spot in Group E.

The game is to be played on an artificial surface, deemed acceptable by Uefa due to the possibility of freezing conditions in the Russian capital. The pitch was laid by Fieldturf who, according to company spokesman Michael Davis, had also been asked by the RFF to upgrade it before next week's clash.

However, following last month's 3-0 defeat by Steve McClaren's side at Wembley, it appears the RFF had a change of heart.

"After the defeat, they said that they will play on the existing surface," Davis told BBC's Inside Sport programme. "The Russians had agreed there would be a new surface but the result at Wembley changed that."

He added: "Some of the Russian players will have played on that surface before, knowing that the England players haven't. Put a brand new surface in and it's a level playing field, nobody's played on it."

A spokesman for the Luzhniki Stadium insisted, however, that there had not been a formal decision made to upgrade the playing surface, and the RFF denied the Russians would gain a significant advantage from it remaining unchanged.

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