Two Iranians shortlisted for Asian award

GOAL – KUALA LUMPUR, Japan’s Shinji Kagawa, Iran’s Andranik Teymourian and Korea’s Yeom Ki-Hun have been added to the second shortlist of 10 candidates for the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) Player of the Year award.

The AFC announced a 15-player shortlist in mid-September with six players, Keisuke Honda, Koo Ja-Cheol, Mohammed Noor, Server Djeparov, Hadi Aghily and Ismail Matar retaining their places in the revised list.

Dortmund midfielder Kagawa, who had a fine 2011 Asian Cup before being inured in the semi-final, is a significant addition to the list after playing a major part in Japan’s 8-0 rout of Tajikistan last month.

Similarly, Teymourian was a key member of the Iran side which thrashed rivals Bahrain 6-0 in World Cup qualifying in October.

The award, which will be presented in Kuala Lumpur on November 23, was won in 2010 by Australian defender Sasa Ognenovski.

Uzbekistan’s Djeparov is the only player who previously won the award to make the second shortlist.

Candidates for AFC Player of the Year as follows: