23 invited to Team Melli

Persianfootball.com – TEHRAN, Carlos Queiroz named 23 players for the training camp in the UAE, starting on Monday, and the Asian Cup qualifier in Kuwait on March 26.

Biggest news is the call-up of Daniel Davari after the half-Iranian Bundesliga 2 goalkeeper had turned down the first invitation to Iran’s national team due to club commitments last month, but will now join Team Melli despite having another important club match on March 28.

Sepahan keeper Shahab Gordan was dropped for the 25-year-old.

While there are no surprises in the defensive selection, the inclusion of Zob Ahan midfielder Ghasem Hadadifar was all but expected.

Hadadifar will fill in for the injured Persepolis midfielders Ali Karimi and Reza Haghighi, whereas their clubmate Mohammad Nouri and Sweden based Omid Nazari also didn’t make the cut this time.

In attack, many would have expected the inclusion of in-form veteran striker Mehdi Seyed Salehi of Tractor Sazi FC, but Queiroz opted for Malavan duo Jalal Rafkhaei and Mehrdad Oladi instead.

Yaghoub Karimi, despite having been invited to Alireza Mansourian’s u-23 squad for a friendly tournament in Qatar, was also named, while Persepolis forward Gholamreza Rezaei was ignored.

Below comes the full squad.

Goalkeepers:
Daniel Davari – Eintracht Braunschweig, GER
Rahman Ahmadi – Saipa Karaj
Alireza Haghighi – Rubin Kazan, RUS

Defenders:
Khosro Heydari – Esteghlal Tehran
Hossein Mahini – Persepolis Tehran
Pejman Montazeri – Esteghlal Tehran
Jalal Hosseini – Persepolis Tehran
Mohammad Nosrati – Tractor Sazi Tabriz
Shoja Khalilzadeh – Mes Kerman
Mehrdad Pouladi – Persepolis Tehran
Ehsan Hajsafi – Sepahan Esfahan

Midfielders:
Javad Nekounam – Esteghlal Tehran
Andranik Teymourian – Al Kharitiyath, QAT
Omid Ebrahimi – Sepahan Esfahan
Ghasem Hadadifar – Zob Ahan Esfahan
Mojtaba Jabbari – Esteghlal Tehran

Forwards:
Ashkan Dejagah – Fulham FC, ENG
Mohammad-Reza Khalatbari – Sepahan Esfahan
Masoud Shojaei – CA Osasuna, ESP
Yaghoub Karimi – Naft Tehran
Reza Ghoochannejhad – Standard Liege, BEL
Jalal Rafkhaei – Malavan Anzali
Mehrdad Oladi – Malavan Anzali