Navdikia out, Ebrahimi, Arab in

PFDC – TEHRAN, Unsurprisingly Sepahan playmaker Moharram Navidkia declined his national team invitation, citing his longtime injury trouble as reason.

The 28-year-old playmaker had injured his knee badly in an Olympic qualifier in 2004, an injury which almost ended his footballing career and prevented him from playing over long periods repeatedly since then.

Instead Carlos Queiroz invited his 23-year-old clubmate Omid Ebrahimi, a central midfielder and Sanat Naft striker Rouhollah Arab for the upcoming training camp (May 31 – June 2).

Below comes the final squad.

Goalkeepers: Mehdi Rahmati (Sepahan), Shahab Gordan (Zob Ahan), Mohammad Bagher Sadeghi (Zob Ahan)

Defenders: Jalal Hosseini (Sepahan), Hadi Aghily (Sepahan), Mohsen Bengar (Sepahan), Ehsan Hajsafi (Sepahan), Khosro Heydari (Sepahan), Seyed Mohammad Hosseini (Zob Ahan), Farshid Talebi (Zob Ahan), Hossein Mahini (Zob Ahan), Mohammad Nosrati (Teraktorsazi), Ghasem Dehnavi (Mes)

Midfielders: Omid Ebrahimi (Sepahan), Mehrdad Pouladi (Mes), Mostafa Seifi (Mes), Andranik Teymourian (Teraktorsazi), Mohammad Ebrahimi (Teraktorsazi), Mohammad Ghazi (Zob Ahan), Ghasem Hadadifar (Zob Ahan), Meysam Baou (Shahrdari), Ali Karimi (Schalke 04), Milad Zanidpour (Steel Azin)

Forwards: Mohammad-Reza Khalatbari (Zob Ahan), Mohammad Gholami (Steel Azin), Saeed Daghighi (Shahrdari), Rouhollah Arab (Sanat Naft)