Category: News

IRAN- QATAR: Match preview

Team Melli will meet Qatar in the final of the Four Nations International tournament in Amman Jordan. The match is scheduled to kick off at 9 PM local time and will be played right after the third-place match between Iraq and host Jordan, in Amman International Stadium.

The match will be the first time that Carlos Queiroz will be playing opposite the team that he coached for 8 years in which he became a household name but not short of controversies that he created now and then in Iran. Team Melli is now under Amir Ghalenoei who is still undefeated since the start of the year.

Much hype has been made out of the fact that Querioz will face off against Iran, a team he left with the majority of players that he picked, still active in the team. The real issue of this match is the expectations from Team Melli after the collective criticism by everyone concerned in Iranian football on the performance of the team in the last match against Jordan. A shakey defense, a lethargic display, error-prone players, and just about a non-existent midfield all combined to paint a gloomy picture of the prospects of Team Melli in the AFC Asian Cup in less than three months from now.

Ghalenoei must have undergone a shock watching Jordanians dribble past his players with such ease. He certainly will not accept such a performance as he is a coach with high expectations and demands the best. Changes will be inevitable, but the fact remains that in Midfield, his choices are limited, while he still has a few cards in the defense zone.

From what we have seen from the Qatar Team, the defending AFC Asian Cup champions.is hardly anywhere near the form that brought them glory fours years back. Like Iran, they are stuck on several senior players who are aging while very few young names have emerged from their strong league. Some of these Qatar players might have lost much of their appetite and skills in the last couple of years. A win for Ghalenoei will not be a great achievement against Qatar, but more important than a victory is the overall teamwork, individual performance, and the general attitude of the team. Ghalenoei desperately needs to have the fans and media behind him and a good display against Qatar will be a good starting point.

HEAD2HEAD

H / A / NMatchesWDLGoals+ / –
HOME862019 – 4+15
AWAY1593318 – 12+6
NEUTRAL11002 – 1+1
Total24165339 – 17+22

LAST MATCH

31. Dec.2018FriendlyA2 – 1Khalifa Stadium, Doha2 – 1
* behind closed doors

Current squad scorers against Qatar

Sardar AZMOUN (2)
Mehdi TAREMI (2)
Ali JAHANBAKHSH (1)
EhsanHAJSAFI (1)

Team Melli’s performance is worrying!

Not surprisingly, Team Melli’s performance against Jordan created a large number of criticisms from experts and media alike.

One of those critics was Massoud Eghbali. A longtime trainer and currently a coaching lecturer with the Asian Football Federation AFC. Speaking to Mehr reporter regarding the match against Jordan, he said: “We have seen a frustrating game from the national team players. We are weak in all areas, and if the Jordanian players had made better use of their chances and their finishing was even average, we might have lost the match.”

“One of the major problems of Team Melli is the lack of a young player in the team. The majority of the players are old, and this fact reflects the Iranian team’s shortfall and lack of in-depth long-term strategy. Ghalenoei should adjust and re-think player selection because if this trend continues, he will definitely lack energetic players capable of playing in a demanding tournament in a short span of time like the Asian Cup and the World Cup. Iran’s Team Melli will be remembered as an old man’s home.”



The AFC lecturer noted: “Team Melli has a lot of weaknesses in the defensive structure, while we saw that during Queiroz days, Iran was renowned for its solid defensive structure. Instead of making progress, Ghalenoei’s team has regressed and this is not promising.”

He added: “The form of Team Melli with this style of the game is not satisfactory at all, and although most of these players have played together in recent years and have had a history of being in the World Cup, they were very sloppy, casual and lacked focus. One of the reasons may be the mentality of the players, who probably thought that the match was done and dusted in the first half as they were ahead by 2 goals. I strongly believe that the players should be motivated all the time. It seemed that they (players) lacked the motivation to play in these matches and need professional sports psychologists in order to guide them so that we don’t have to face motivational problems in the Asian Cup,” Eghbali said.

In response to the final match against Qatar, Eghbali said “I do not have an in-depth knowledge of the Qatar team under Queiroz. However, in this tournament in Jordan, they have shown that they are far from Asia’s top-level teams and were unable to score, only winning against Iraq on spot kicks. Hence, the coming match against this team cannot be a true test for the players. We must definitely face teams that challenge us, We need much stronger oppositions, teams that can rattle us and expose the weaknesses”

Comparing the programs of teams such as Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Saudi Arabia in FIFA Day with Team Melli’s program, Eghbali said “Teams like Japan, have reached a level of strength, where they can easily play against the best in the world and beat them comprehensively too, surely they are now believing in success at the next World Cup 2026. If the same teams from Japan, South Korea, Australia, and so on, turn up with their best players to compete in AFC Asian Cup 2023, we are unlikely to create a threat against them, and failure is a possibility.”

He continued: ” Ghalenoei is a good coach who does not like to lose, and the teams with whom we played against in the friendly preparatory games is a proof of this. The driving force of every team is its young players, Iran does not have such players in its squad. We have a high age average team, and if we factor in the Asian Cup, we should seriously think about the next World Cup.”

In the end, Eghbali stated: “The national team is in dire need of an overhaul, and the way players are selected should be reconsidered. We were not good at all against Jordan and the defensive duty players, holding midfielders and defenders, performed very poorly and were error-prone, so I hope we will not see such games from the national team in future matches.”


Players rating vs Jordan.

The match against Jordan, despite a 3-1 win, was far from convincing and has resulted in criticism from the media and ex-players. Ghaenoei’s players played ugly yet won against a weak and tactically naive team in Jordan.

Here are the players’ ratings:

1 –Alireza Beiranvand: confident and assured, although he has hardly put to the test thanks to the misfiring Jordanian players. He could not do much about the goal conceded as his defenders made a blunder out of a simple clearance. [7.6]


3-Ehsan Hajisafi: Worked hard and covered well when needed. However, he has lost some of his pace and agility. He was caught off-guard several times. [6.5]
23 Ramin Rezaeian: His fine work on the right flank resulted in Iran’s first goal, however, he was also a savior when he blocked a certain goalbound ball by a Jordanian forward preventing a goal. The shortfall was how easily the Jordainain dribbled past him [7.6]
4 Shojaa Khalilzadeh: Another defender who is short of pace and agility. It is undeniable that this defender gives it 100% on the pitch, but younger more agile, and stronger forwards can easily pass him. One did, in this match, but Shojaa used trickery to hold on to him and for this, he got a yellow card. [6.3]
13 Hossein Kananizadegan: He was guilty of the goal conceded along with Ezaatolahi who could not deal with a simple clearance. He got another yellow card after being dribbled by the Jordanian midfielder and resorting to shirt-pulling to prevent an attack. Not as steady and confident as seen before. Overall an acceptable but below-par performance. [6.1]


21 Ahmad Noorollahi: Hardly showed up in this match and hardly supported the front line. Whatever is holding up Noorollahi must be addressed by the coaching staff [5]
6 Saeid Ezzatolahi: by far the poorest of all the players on the pitch. He has hardly contributed to any of the goals and was lost in the midfield. He stumbled on the ball and clashed with Kananizadegan in the box to give away the goal. This is not the first time that Ezzatolahi has played such poorly The enigma is how is this player maintaining his place in the starting lineup with such poor performances. [3.5]
19 Mohammad Mohebi: Disappointing performance from a promising player. He had no contribution in any of the three goals scored and generally lacked enthusiasm and drive [5.5]

9 Mehdi Taremi: Scored and provided an assist. One cannot ask for more than that from a player of his caliber, however, he could have contributed more and scored at least one more goal. [7.9]
20 Sardar Azmoun: Scored a beautiful opener with a side foot-half volley. His one-on-one in the second half, where a player of his standard should have easily scored, was a black mark. Much better finishing and control were expected from him in that missed opportunity. [7.8]
7 Alireza Jahanbakhsh: Another player who was disappointing and a point of concern for the team. There are considerable expectations from Jahanabakhsh in the AFC Asian Cup, but so far this year, he has been a shadow of himself. Lack of confidence, hesitancy, inability to create chances for the forwards, and many more shortfalls marred his game against Jordan. Another player that needs to be analyzed and coached. [4.5]

Substitutes

Rouzbeh Cheshmi: Replaced Noorollahi in the second half and managed to slightly improve the center, but Jordan was having the best of time leaving Cheshmi to be confined. Provided a beautiful assist to Mehrdad Mohammadi for Iran’s third goal. [7.3]


Saman Ghoddos: Replaced Azmoun on minute 67′. A classy player and possibly the only one in the midfield with vision and finesse. However, His contribution was overshadowed by the Jordanian forcefully pressing Iran to look for goals. He was confined to defensive duties. [6.5]

Mehrdad Mohammadi: came in to replace the dysfunctional Jahanbakhsh. He scored with a beautiful chip in the dying minutes of the match despite lacking support from the midfield [7.8]

Morteza Pouraliganji: Not rated


Coach: Amir Ghalenoei: If the former Esteghlal and Sepahan coach looks to repeat his success at the club level, he needs to be much more aggressive in many areas. He also needs to be more adventurous. Must ensure the team plays as a group and must work on improving the defense and Midfield as they could be the source of Team Melli’s failure. His substitutions were fine and yielded results. Faced with an aging squad, Ghalenoei needs a major tactical adjustment.

Ghalenoei’s comment on the match.

Amir Ghalnoei, the head coach of Team Melli said “Fair criticism is what football needs, but the problem will not be solved by “hitting” the football federation and the national team.”

In comments published by FFIRI official website, Ghalenoei, following Iran’s 3-1 victory over Jordan, added “Jordan has been in good form for the last two years and has not lost to any Asian team except Australia. The fact is that this pitch was not in good condition and the match played earlier before ours, made the conditions even worse. This poor-quality pitch had a great impact on our game.”

He added: “Overall, I am happy that we won the match and advanced to the final. Of course, I am not satisfied with the way the team played and I expected to play much better quality football, but the fact that we beat Jordan by two goals margin is important. We had some flaws in the defense format that we need to analyze and fix our weaknesses”

Referring to the country’s football’s need for empathy for the success of the national team, Ghalenoei said: “There is a saying that collective consensus is equal to success. We have less than 100 days until the AFC Asian Cup and I say let’s all come and help. Weakening each other does not happen anywhere in the world. Criticism is not the same even if we want to express some other issues. The football federation is struggling. We have difficult financial conditions, but Mr. Taj, Mr. Nabi, the board of the Football Federation, we are all trying to solve the problems. Many others are also helping. My request is that we all get together and criticize fairly if there is any issue so that the national team can be better prepared to solve the problems. Attacking each other will not solve the problem. There is nothing wrong with constructive criticism, but it is not right to say things that are detrimental to the federation and football in this situation. Let’s all help each other and be sympathetic to the country’s football so that, God willing, we will be better prepared for the Asian Cup.”

On the next match against Qatar, the Team Melli head coach said ” Congratulations to the Qatar team and Queiroz for advancing to the final match. Queiroz has worked hard for our football. I hope the match against Qatar will be a good game, but the reality is that the quality of the pitch is not desirable. You saw the Iraq-Qatar game, which ended 0-0 and there were very few opportunities, but our game against Jordan had four goals and could have had five or six more goals. I am happy that Team Melli plays beautiful football and scores three goals even on a bad day. Of course, the problem is in the defense structure, which we will fix, God willing.”

FACT CHECK: Jordan was beaten 5 games in a row including a 6-0 thrashing by Norway. The last win for Jordan was over a year ago, in September 2022, when they beat Oman 2-0. In the process, Jordan FA sacked the coach and appointed the current one, Hossein Amoota, who is still winless after three matches. So, one should take Ghalenoei’s comment about how good the Jordan team is, with a pinch of salt.

Despite the admission by Ghalenoei that Team Melli’s performance was not satisfactory, especially the defense line, he has not mentioned the full reality, which is a right he reserves, of course. The problem is more than the defense and starts at the poorest line of the three and that is the midfield. Lack of creativity, vision, pace, and poor basic techniques such as passing, was so obvious in the midfield players, that they might as well have dispenced with it and only stuck two lines for Team Melli, defense and Forward.

A player like Saeid Ezatollahi should have no place in Team Melli. It is amazing how his successive poor displays for the team have been camouflaged for years and can still make the starting lineup ahead of Cheshmi and Sarlak to mention a few. As a defensive/Holding midfielder, his only good attribute is his physique, nothing else. Ahmad Nourollahi has hardly been noticed in this match but at best he is not a creative midfielder and a leader who can turn the match around. Jahanbakhsh continues his sub-standard form and gradual deterioration at club and country level. Surely lack of competitive matches has affected him as he is a bench player in Feyenoord.

The fact is, the group of players that both Queiroz and now Ghalenoei had faith in, is aging and some have passed their sell-by dates. These players are not going to be able to compete at the highest levels and when Iran plays against the might of Japan, Korea, or Australia, they will struggle badly. Since there are less than 100 days to the Asian Cup, there is little likelihood that Ghalenoei will introduce any young Iranian players to the team. That is why Ghalenoei, in semi-desperation, is asking the public to refrain from criticism, and the full support of the fans and the media, while it is his responsibility to select the squad, ensure the correct game plan, and utilize his best resources comes the crucial matches.

It is rather silly to blame the pitch for the poor performance of Team Melli, but again, Ghaleneoi like the rest of the Iranian coaches, has his little book of justifications. Regardless, what is important is that Ghalenoei accepts his team played badly and is going to do something about it. The fans hope that such a positive attitude and thinking will refect on the teams’s prospects.

Jordan 1-3 Iran: Match report.

Iran’s Team Melli defeated Jordan 3-1 on Friday evening to reach the final of the 4 nations international tournament and set up an interesting encounter against Qatar coached by the former Team Melli coach, Carlos Queiroz.

Iran opened the scoring early when Mehdi Taremi fed a nice through ball to his partner Sardar Azmoun, who nicely side-footed the ball into the net in the 8th minute. Taremi scored the second from a brilliant pass from the right flank by Ramin Rezaeian which the Porto striker placed on the far side of the Jordanian keeper.

In the first half, Iran did not face much of a problem distributing the ball with ease and patience, however, in the process, some easy chances were also missed by the Iranians due to some poor finishing and overconfidence.

The second half was totally different story. Jordan was the better team by far while Iran crumbled and the defense was leaky. The middle of the field was totally taken over by the hosts and if it was not for the poor finishing of the Jordanian players, Team Melli would have been a few goals behind.

Team Melli’s poor defensive play, with suspect marking, combined with Jordanian players’ determination to show themselves as a better team than the result suggested, eventually paid dividends as Jordan scored in the 74th minute from a horrible blunder by Saeid Esatollahi and Kananizadegan. After the goal, Jordan pressed on, leaving the Iranians nervous and in disarray which led Ghalenoei’s players to resort to long balls and hasty clearances. It is safe to say that the second half was one of the worst teams Melli performances in many years.

Jordan’s pressure eventually paid off as a soft penalty was declared by the Saudi referee late in the second half. Jordan’s Ehsan Haddad’s right foot kick from the spot went airborne and was nowhere near the goal. It was indeed a bad spot kick and consistent with Jordan’s performance as a set of talented players who have great problems shooting straight and finishing.

And as Jordan was still hoping for a late equalizer leading to penalty kicks to decide the winner, in came Mehrda Mohammad a substitute in injury time to score the third for Team Melli with a pretty good-looking chip over the Jordanian keeper. Cheshmi provided Mohammadi with the ball from a long clearance.

This was yet another win for the undefeated Ghalenoei, but one doubts that he was proud of his player’s performance this evening. There were more negatives than positives in this game for Iran. Not that Qatar will be a great threat on the 17th when they play in the final match, but this type of performance, leaves a lot to be desired and reduces the faith of the fans to be a leading title contender comes January 2024 in the AFC Asian Cup 2023. As of now, and with such a scruffy display, Iran’s chances to win the AFC Asian Cup is relegated to the third or fourth level, while Japan remains the top favorite.

Lots of work needs to be done. The midfield was embarrassing, the normally dependable defense was falling apart and the two stars at the froing were the saving grace, although both were far from their best.

Team Melli news briefing

Team Melli head coach Amir Ghalanoui, is looking forward to the Jordan 4 side friendly tournament.

“This tournament can be quite a good test for the national team. Qatar, which is present in this tournament, is highly motivated. Iraq is a very good team, and God willing, we will become the finalists of this tournament.”Ghalenoi said while on a visit to Qatar for a workshop of the head coaches of the finalists of AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023.
“We had a 3-day training workshop for the technical staff in Qatar, and the coaches of all the teams present in the Asian Cup were present in it. New issues were raised that were not mentioned in the previous Asian Cups.”

During the visit to the venue of the competition, the training ground and the hotel for the squad were considered for Ghalenoei. We held preliminary discussions with the local organizing committee. We hope that any shortfalls will be resolved.

Mohammad Nabi, mentioned Al Rayan Club training facilities camp: “This camp has 5 training fields and the same facilities we used in the last FIFA World Cup that was at our disposal in Al Rayan Club. We submitted a request to the officials of the tournament to allocate the same facilities for Team Melli in the upcoming AFC Asian Cup. We are confident we will get a positive response to our request.

“All of Al-Ryan’s practice fields are excellent and we have no problems with the grass.”

” The Vice President of the Football Federation pointed out: “We are going to participate in a tournament in Indonesia, which is 10-15 days before the AFC Asian Cup, and we are presently upon which teams are taking part in this tournament

Saleh Hardani added to the Team Melli squad

According to the Football Federation website, Dinamo Zagreb right-back Sadegh Moharrami is out of the squad for the Four Nations tournament in Jordan due to an injury in a club match. His replacement is Saleh Hardani.

The updated list is as follows:

Alireza Biranvand, Payam Niazmand, Seyed Hossein Hosseini
Ehsan Haj Safi, Milad Mohammadi, Shojaa Khalilzadeh, Mohammad Hossein Kananizadegan, Morteza Pouraliganji, Mohammad Daneshgar, Amin Hizbavi, Saleh Hardani, Ramin Rezaeian, Roozbeh Cheshmi

Saeid Ezzatollahi, Ahmad Noorollahi, Mohammad Mohebi, Javad Hosseinnejad, Saman Ghoddos,

Mehdi Taremi, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Mehrdad Mohammadi, Karim Ansarifard, and Sardar Azmoun

In the first session of training, only 10 players turned up with the rest of the players trickling in from several destinations. Persepolis players were given a rest after their match to recover.

Iran futsal eases past the Kyrgyz Republic.

Bishkek: Iran national Futsal team stamped its authority with a 10-2 win over Kyrgyz Republic in Group C of the AFC Futsal Asian Cup™ Thailand 2024 Qualifiers on Monday.

Following the 18-2 win over the Maldives in the opening round Iran flexed its muscle, this time against the host. Captain Hossein Tayyebi got the ball rolling for 12-time champions Iran with a strike in the second minute before Mohammadhossein Derakhshani and Karimi got into the act with efforts in the 17th minute.

Iran pushed further in the second half and were immediately rewarded with their sixth and seventh of the evening through strikes from Mahdi Rostami Ha and Saeid Ahmad Abbasi respectively.

Kyrgyz Republic reduced the deficit through Daniiar Uulu Abdurakhim in the 25th minute only for Iran to score again through Karimi’s 30th-minute effort followed by Mohammadhossein Derakhshani’s goal four minutes later with the No 7 ending the proceedings with his third and Iran’s 10th goal. 

Iran meets Lebanon on Matchday Three, while Kyrgyz Republic faces Maldives.

Group C

PWDLFAGDPTS
1IR IRAN2200284246
2KYRGYZ REPUBLIC *2101714-73
3LEBANON *210110643
4MALDIVES2002324-210

Confidence crises with Iranian coaches.

Amir Ghalenoei has produced his list for Jordan’s four-nations tournament. Not only this list was quite disappointing for those fans and pundits who liked to see new young faces in an aging Team Melli, but it also included a veteran in Karim Ansarifard who has not been in the picture and has hardly shown the public in Iran any proof of his worth in the Cypriot league. Ansarifard is not even a regular starter for Omonia Nicosia

Since his appointment. Amir Ghalenoei has been facing regular criticism, mainly because he is a local coach. There has been a crisis of confidence in Iranian coaches for a long time, particularly in these few months. The reason is that the fans of different sports have witnessed a decline in performance whenever a local Iranian coach is appointed to coach a team. The worst case was Volleyball, followed to a lesser extent, Basketball, and Futsal. All three sports lost their continental titles under local coaches.

It is a fact that the fans do not trust Iranian coaches. It is a fact that was highlighted in an ISNA poll with the majority losing voting against domestic coaches. It is a deep-rooted problem and has been hidden under the carpet, at least in official media. It seems that talking about it is taboo and the reason is, like everything in Iran, it is the policy of the regime, and one cannot disagree with it. Not in public at least.

SUPREME LEADER SERMON

However, volleyball, which was fast becoming the number one team sport in Iran threatening the domination of football, suddenly hit a spiral dive after Ataei was appointed. His promotion to Volleyball Team Melli and rise in value was right after a ceremonial meeting with the supreme leader in which Ayatollah Khamenei explicitly declared that domestic coaches have much better value for the Iranian teams than foreign nationals.

Sport authorities took that as a Fatwa that needs to be strictly adhered to not just a pip talk from the supreme leader. It has quickly become a perceived policy of maintaining the values of the Islamic revolution through the appointment of Iranian coaches.

Although Ayatollah Khamenei did say that he is no expert in sports and did not interfere in the appointment of coaches in that meeting with the Iranian national volleyball team, who dares to disagree and work independently selecting coaches based on merits, international standards of competence, experience, and ability rather on patriotism or politics?

Right after the free fall of volleyball, pundits mentioned that Behrouz Ataei, the Iranian head coach of the national team, showed that “we have not yet reached a level with domestic coaches where we can compete closely with the world’s volleyball powers, and we need the presence of a skilled foreign head coach so that the domestic coaches can learn and experience major world events alongside him and improve their own technical abilities. Maybe this issue is not pleasant for some, but it is a fact that many veterans and fans of volleyball acknowledge.”

In football, Ghalenoei, or any Iranian head coach is bound by many limitations.  In a bi-polar football culture, his first felony is that he is a Blue so he will have an apparent bias towards Esteghlal players. This has been observed many times over with Iranian coaches, although Daei was an exception during his tenure.

DEMANDS AND PRESSURE TO SUCCEED

Iranian coaches have a fear of defeat and setbacks and that is not entirely their own fault. They are facing masses of supporters and press that demand immediate results. A nation hungry for success that eluded it since the revolution over 40 years ago. There is no time for experimenting and being a maverick. Ghalenoei is no exception. Fear of failure pushes him to rely on the most battle-hardened warriors, counting on the experience of senior players to achieve success.  He has just taken over an aging team, the oldest in the last World Cup 2022, in fact, to increase the average age by adding yet another over-33-year-old player!

It is true that the U23 team, which is supposed to be the backbone of senior Team Melli, has been poorly performing for many years, but under a sub-standard unqualified coach in Reza Enayati, the real potential of the team was never going to materialize. Nonetheless, there were a few good players in that team that deserve a trial and call-up. Only one made Ghalenoei’s list.

POLITICS

There will always be political pressure on the national team. The regime’s interest supersedes any other objectives. Players not showing total loyalty to the regime, will have to be excluded and any sign of political dissent must be swiftly dealt with. Under a foreign coach filtering players based on politics is that much more difficult especially if you have a strong character coach.

DISCIPLINE

One of the biggest shortfalls of Iranian coaches will always be DISCIPLINE. Time and again, the local coaches have failed miserably in self-discipline and that of their own players’. Never mind what they preach in public, the Iranian coaches in general feel obliged to be protective of the players even when committing the silliest or most damaging of acts.

The regional teams realize that Iranian footballers play with strong emotion, and the opposition takes advantage of that even provoking their Iranians whose self-control and emotional intelligence are suspect. This could be a game changer comes major championships like the Asian Cup.

Finally….. Do you think Ansarifard’s call to team Melli is justified?

Here is his record this season. Note that he played only one 90-minute game in the league.

Karim Ansarifard

ClubDivisionminutesgamesstartSub inSub outbenchgoalsYC2 YCRC

Omonia Nicosia
1.D277734341200

Squad for Jordan Tournament

Amir Ghalenoei has invited 23 players to form the squad for the upcoming Jordan International Football tournament that will be held in the Jordanian capital as of 13th October.

The list, which is hardly exciting includes the return of two former players Karim Ansarifard and Mehrdad Mohammadi but also includes one unfamiliar name in Mohammad Javad Hosseinnejad . the only new invitee.

Several players were dropped for one reason or another including Ali Gholizadeh now playing in the Polish league, Majid Hosseini who is in Turkey along with Ali Karimi, and Persepolis midfielder Mehdi Torabi, who had a slight injury but has already started recovery training with his club.

Other notable absentees are Shariyar Moghanlou. who performed poorly in the last match for Team Melli, Reza Asadi, and Sayyadmanesh who has not been doing well with his English club Hull City.

The list sees the return of the naughty boy KAnanizadegan after her was left out for the last two games due to disciplinary reasons following his childish act during the final of the CAFA Nations Cup in Tashkent.

The 20-year-old Javad Hosseinnejad was one of the few players who played well for the Omid team. He plays his club football with Sepahan.

Goalkeepers: Alireza Beiranvand, Payam Niazmand Seyed Hossein Hosseini

Defenders: Sadegh Moharrami, Ramin Rezaiean, Morteza Pouraliganji, Amin Hizbavi, Mohammad Daneshgar, Shojaá Khalilzadeh, Mohammad Hossein Kananizadegan, Ehsan Hajsafi, Milad Mohammadi

Midfielders: Saeed Ezzatollahi, Ahmad Noorollahi, Roozbeh Cheshmi, Saman Ghoddus, Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Mohammad Javad Hosseinnejad

Forwards: Mehrdad Mohammadi, Mehdi Tarimi, Mohammad Mohebi, Sardar Azmoun and Karim Ansarifard