23 summoned for WAFF Championship

PFDC – TEHRAN, Afshin Ghotbi recalled Esteghlal strikers Farhad Majidi and Milad Meydavoudi for the upcoming WAFF Championship, but will aim to defend the title without playmaker Ali Karimi.

Karimi, who has returned to Steel Azin but failed to prevent his team from suffering two consecutive defeats, is the most prominent absentee beside Javad Nekounam and Masoud Shojaei from Osasuna, who are unavailable due to La Liga committements.

Also no Zob Ahan players have been invited because they will be busy with their AFC Champions League quarterfinal duties.

The WAFF Championship 2010 with nine participating teams will be held in Amman from September 24th to October 3rd.

Iran have been placed in group A alongside Bahrain and Oman, who they will play on September 24th and 28th respectively. Jordan, Syria and Kuwait have been drawn into group B while group C consists of Iraq, Palestine and Yemen.

The semifinals, with the three group winners and the best runner-up, will take place on October 1st, two days before the final.

Below comes the Iranian preliminary 23-men-roster which still has to be reduced to 20 players until the beginning of the tournament.

Goalkeepers: Mehdi Rahmati, Ebrahim Mirzapour, Alireza Haghighi

Defenders: Hadi Aghily, Mohammad Nosrati, Jalal Hosseini, Hanif Omranzadeh, Khosro Heydari, Hashem Beikzadeh, Ehsan Hajsafi

Midfielders: Andranik Teymourian, Pejman Nouri, Farzad Ashoubi, Mohammad Nouri, Iman Mobali

Forwards: Gholamreza Rezaei, Hadi Norouzi, Milad Zanidpour, Milad Meydavoudi, Karim Ansarifard, Mohammad Gholami, Mehrdad Oladi, Farhad Majidi*

* turned down the invitation and announced his retirement from Team Melli