Iran calls up Javad Nekounam

MNA – TEHRAN, Osasuna’s Iranian midfielder Javad Nekounam has been invited to Iran football team for Madagascar warm-up match and the 2014 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers against the Maldives.

Nekounam, who stayed out from the national team for the Osasuna summer training camp, has returned to the Iran football team. He didn’t take part in the Austria’s training camp held in Loipersdorf from June 28 to July 10.

Nekounam’s teammate Masoud Shojaei was forced to stay out from the team since he is recovering from a foot injury.

Carlos Queiroz’s men will meet Madagascar in a friendly on July 17 in preparation for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers against the Maldives which will be held on July 23 and 28.

Squad:
Goalkeepers: Mehdi Rahmati, Shahab Gordan, Alireza Haghighi
Defenders: Khosro Heydari, Mehrdad Pouladi, Jalal Hosseini, Hadi Aghily, Mohammad Nosrati, Ehsan Hajsafi, Hossein Mahini
Midfielders: Andranik Teymourian, Pejman Nouri, Ali Karimi, Meysam Baou, Ghasem Hadadifar, Milad Zanidpour, Maziar Zare, Javad Nekounam
Strikers: Karim Ansarifard, Mehrdad Oladi, Saeid Daghighi, Hadi Norouzi, Mohammad-Reza Khalatbari, Mohammad Ghazi