No Ali Karimi in the first World Cup roster

Persianfootball.com – TEHRAN, The day after Foolad Khuzestan’s dramatic league victory on the final matchday, Carlos Queiroz named his list of Asian based players for the World Cup.

The list includes 26 players from Iran’s domestic league and two Persian Gulf legionnaires.

The players are supposed to leave for a training camp in South Africa on Monday, where they will play three test matches against local club teams as well as a friendly match versus Mozambique.

Some of the players, those still involved in Asian Champions League action with either Esteghlal, Sepahan, Tractor and Foolad will join the rest of the squad by next week.

The European legionnaires then will join for the next stage of preparations in Austria in May.

No Karimi, Jabbari, Mohammad Nouri

Not too surpisingly Queiroz left out three veteran playmakers. The recently retired Mojtaba Jabbari was not included – just like the out-of-form Mohammad Nouri and highly popular Ali Karimi. The former Bayern Munich midfielder had retired from football altogether last summer ahead of the final three crucial World Cup qualifiers, but had reversed his decision later and had hoped for a call-up from Queiroz.

His World Cup participation seems to be out of question now.

Instead, young playmakers Bakhtiar Rahmani (captain of league winners Foolad), Payam Sadeghian (top assister of the league) and Mohsen Mosalman shall fill in.

Elsewhere, there are barely surprises with only the yet uncapped shooting star Mehdi Sharifi’s inclusion being mentionable.

Below comes the list of 28 domestic and Asian based players for the upcoming training camp.

Goalkeepers:
Rahman Ahmadi – Sepahan Esfahan
Sousha Makani – Foolad Khuzestan
Hamed Lak – Tractor Sazi Tabriz

Defenders:
Khosro Heydari – Esteghlal Tehran
Hossein Mahini – Persepolis Tehran
Pejman Montazeri – Umm Salal, QAT
Jalal Hosseini – Persepolis Tehran
Amir-Hossein Sadeghi – Esteghlal Tehran
Shoja Khalilzadeh – Sepahan Esfahan
Mohammad-Reza Khanzadeh – Zob Ahan Esfahan
Ahmad Alenemeh – Naft Tehran
Hashem Beikzadeh – Esteghlal Tehran
Ehsan Hajsafi – Sepahan Esfahan
Mehrdad Pouladi – Persepolis Tehran
Mehrdad Jamaati – Foolad Khhuzestan

Midfielders:
Javad Nekounam – Kuwait SC, KUW
Andranik Teymourian – Esteghlal Tehran
Reza Haghighi – Persepolis Tehran
Omid Ebrahimi – Sepahan Esfahan
Ghasem Hadadifar – Zob Ahan Esfahan
Bakhtiar Rahmani – Foolad Khuzestan
Payam Sadeghian – Persepolis Tehran
Mohsen Mosalman – Persepolis Tehran

Strikers:
Mohammad-Reza Khalatbari – Persepolis Tehran
Mehdi Sharifi – Sepahan Esfahan
Karim Ansarifard – Tractor Sazi Tabriz
Reza Norouzi – Naft Tehran
Yaghoub Karimi – Sepahan Esfahan