Final Iran squad for World Cup qualifiers announced

PFDC – TEHRAN, Finally Iran coach Carlos Queiroz announced his 24-man squad for the training camp in Turkey, the friendly match against Albania (May 27) and the World Cup qualifiers against Uzbekistan (June 3) and Qatar (June 12).

The roster includes ten players from the three Iranian Champions League participants who will not be able to join the rest of the squad before May 24. Therefore Team Melli will begin the training camp near Istanbul with just 14 players on May 21.

Esteghlal defender Pejman Montazeri made the list although not being named among the Champions League players initially, instead Sepahan fullback Hashem Beikzadeh was dropped.

Further players crossed off are centerback Ebrahim Karimi, fullback Mohammad-Reza Khanzadeh, midfielders Reza Haghighi, Ghasem Hadadifar, Ahmad Hassanzadeh and Payam Sadeghian as well as striker Mohammad Ghazi.

The Zob Ahan attacker injured himself in a training match between the national team and the U22 team on Saturday and is the third sidelined centerforward after Reza Norouzi and Mohammad Gholami.

Besides, wingers Masoud Shojaei, Ashkan Dejagah and Arash Afshin are also injured.

Team Melli lost the test against the U22 2-3, however, the youngsters were boosted by the presence of three A team players in each half – Javad Nekounam, Mohammad Ghazi and Pejman Nouri before and Reza Haghighi, Karim Ansarifad and Ehsan Hajsafi after the break.

Javad Nekounam and Ghasem Dehnavi scored for the senior national team whereas Karim Ansarifard, Milad Gharibi and Farshad Ahmadzadeh were on target for the U22.

Below comes the squad.

Goalkeepers
Mehdi Rahmati – Esteghlal Tehran
Alireza Haghighi – Rubin Kazan, RUS
Mohsen Forouzan – Tractor Sazi Tabriz
Shahab Gordan – Zob Ahan Esfahan

Defenders
Khosro Heydari – Esteghlal Tehran
Hossein Mahini – Zob Ahan Esfahan
Hadi Aghily – Al Arabi, QAT
Jalal Hosseini – Sepahan Esfahan
Pejman Montazeri – Esteghlal Tehran
Shoja Khalilazadeh – Mes Kerman
Mehrdad Pouladi – Persepolis Tehran
Ehsan Hajsafi – Tractor Sazi Tabriz

Midfielders
Javad Nekounam – CA Osasuna, ESP
Andranik Teymourian – Esteghlal Tehran
Pejman Nouri – Emirates FC, UAE
Mojtaba Jabbari – Esteghlal Tehran
Ali Karimi – Persepolis Tehran
Ferydoon Zandi – Esteghlal Tehran
Ghasem Dehnavi – Mes Kerman
Omid Nazari – Ängelholms FF, SWE

Forwards
Mohammad-Reza Khalatbari – Al Wasl, UAE
Gholamreza Rezaei – Persepolis Tehran
Karim Ansarifard – Saipa Karaj
Mohammad Ebrahimi – Tractor Sazi Tabriz