Team Melli heads to South Africa without two players [VIDEO]
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Loading...Persianfootball.com – TEHRAN, Iran’s national team left Tehran for South Africa on Sunday morning with 21 players, as Mohammad Nouri and Soroush Rafiei at least temporarily had to stay in Iran’s capital due to administrative issues.
While Nouri’s tax issues reportedly could be cleared soon enough to allow the veteran playmaker to join the training camp soon, Soroush Rafiei’s military service issues could cost the Foolad man the trip.
However, most likely Rafiei will be available for the 2015 Asian Cup, as his case is different from Mehrdad Pouladi’s and Hossein Mahini’s, who might well miss the showpiece in January.
Iran will play some friendly matches during the training camp, but the exact opposition has not been confirmed yet. Local clubs as well as the national teams of South Africa, Tanzania and Guatemala have all been named as possible sparring partners.
After the return to Tehran, Iran will face Palestine in a warm-up there before meeting neighbours Iraq in Australia in January in a dress rehearsal.
Iran are grouped with Qatar, UAE and Bahrain in group C.
