23 invited for Asian Cup qualifiers
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Loading...Persianfootball.com – TEHRAN, Iran boss Carlos Queiroz announced his 23-man squad for the Asian Cup qualifiers in Thailand on November 15 and in Lebanon four days later.
Iran are topping the table with seven points out of three matches and will be eager to seal qualification after the two away games.
With all of Iran’s key players present in the squad, the Portuguese’s latest selection still offers enough room for some controversy.
Apart from the injured Khosro Heydari, leftback Hashem Beikzadeh is missing from the recent regular starters, leaving Ehsan Hajsafi as lone obvious option as left fullback.
Sepahan duo Shoja Khalilzadeh and Omid Ebrahimi were also left out while again IPL starlets Bakhtiar Rahmani and Payam Sadeghian were ignored. Also supertalent Sardar Azmoun received no invitation this time around.
Fresh blood is only added by NEC Nijmegen legionnaire Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Sepahan reserve Yaghoub Karimi while midfielder Ghasem Hadadifar, Reza Haghighi and Maziar Zare return after quite some time – the latter possibly being considered as alternative for central defense as well.
Below comes the 23-man roster.
Goalkeepers:
Rahman Ahmadi – Sepahan Esfahan
Daniel Davari – Eintracht Braunschweig (GER)
Hamed Lak – Tractorsazi Tabriz
Defenders:
Hossein Mahini – Persepolis Tehran
Steven Beitashour – San Jose Earthquake (USA)
Pejman Montazeri – Esteghlal Tehran
Jalal Hosseini – Persepolis Tehran
Amir-Hossein Sadeghi – Esteghlal Tehran
Maziar Zare – Malavan Anzali
Ehsan Hajsafi – Sepahan Esfahan
Midfielders:
Javad Nekounam – Esteghlal Tehran
Reza Haghighi – Persepolis Tehran
Andranik Teymourian – Esteghlal Tehran
Ghasem Hadadifar – Zob Ahan Esfahan
Mojtaba Jabbari – Al Ahli (QAT)
Mohammad Nouri – Persepolis Tehran
Strikers:
Ashkan Dejagah – Fulham FC (ENG)
Alireza Jahanbakhsh – NEC Nijmegen (NED)
Reza Ghoochannejhad – Standard Liege (BEL)
Karim Ansarifard – Tractorsazi Tabriz
Masoud Shojaei – UD Las Palmas (ESP)
Mohammad-Reza Khalatbari – Persepolis Tehran
Yaghoub Karimi – Sepahan Esfahan
