Aria Hasegawa on Queiroz’s radar
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Loading...Persianfootball.com – TEHRAN, Iran’s headcoach Carlos Queiroz wants to enforce his World Cup squad with another new foreign based player, the Portuguese explained in a press conference on Sunday.
25-year-old Aria Hasegawa of J-League team FC Tokyo might soon wear Iran’s national team jersey.
The Saitama-born son of an Iranian father and Japanese mother plays as central midfielder and has been capped three times for Japan’s u-20 team before being called up for the A national team, but has not yet played for Japan yet and therefore would be eligible to play for Team Melli.
The 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) tall right-footer came through Yokohama Marinos’ youth ranks before joining the senior squad and playing 71 games between 2007 and 2011. He joined FC Tokyo in 2012 for whom he featured 57 times in the league, scoring eight goals.
Hasegawa would be another member of Iran’s diaspora to be integrated into the Iranian national team after Ferydoon Zandi (2005), Amir Shapourzadeh (2008), Ashkan Dejagah (2012), Reza Ghoochannejhad (2012), Omid Nazari (2012), Daniel Davari (2013) and Steven Beitashour (2013).
