Sepahan players Out !
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[column size=”1/2″] In an exclusive news carried by ISNA , Carlos Queiroz has decided to exclude all of the 6 Sepahan players from Team Melli camp in South Africa. It is not clear if the 6 players will be recalled for the next training camp in Austria, but if Queiroz stands by his decision and does not recall the players again for the World Cup , it will be crises in the making especially in the goalkeeping department where Rahman Ahmadi (34 years) is currently the most experienced of the goal keepers in Iran by far and arguably the best.
Joining the squad will be two goalkeepers, Alireza Biranvand , the 22 years old Naft Tehran keeper who represented Team Melli at youth level but never at senior level and Hamed Lak , 24 years old of Tractorsazi keeper who has just 1 cap against Yemen in WAFF tournament two years ago.
Rahman AHMADI , Omid EBRAHIMI, Ehsan HAJSAFY, Yaghoub KARIMI, and Shojaa KHALILZADEH are the 6 players who were named in the original Team Melli squad. These players were retained by their club because of Sepahan’s commitment in the AFC Champions League. Esteghlal also held their 4 players from joining Team Melli squad , based on the same justification as Sepahan but Queiroz has spared theses players from his wrath and gave them a few days of rest before calling them to join the rest of the squad in Johannesburg.
Tractorsazi and Foolad Khuzestan positively responded to TEam Melli plans and sent their players to the airport but Queiroz asked them to return back to their clubs to play in the AFC Champions league matchday 5!
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[column size=”1/2″] It is believed that Queiroz had a meeting with his staff and came up with this decision. Sepahan has still to play one more match next week which is a decider. A win is crucial for them to qualify for the next round of the AFC Champions League while any other result will spell the end of their participation in this competition. Sepahan has not qualified for the next season edition of the AFC Champions league due to their failure to grab one of the 4 possible places for Iran.
In the absence of any official sources regarding this decision , it is very much hoped that Queiroz decision is temporary and sanity will prevail when the dust settles down. The dispute between Queiroz and the club coaches has been brewing for month because of the ill timing of Team Melli training camp arranged while 4 clubs are still involved with AFC Champions League. The clubs all insisted that they will stick to FIFA regulation and will not play in the Champions League without their best players. This decision did not please Queiroz nor some FFIRI administrators who have threatened all sort of punishments for the clubs, without referring to the rules and regulations governing such players releases.
The most vocal opponent of Queiroz plans was none other than Zlatco Kranjcar, Sepahan’s Croat coach , who accused Queiroz shortsightedness in arranging his schedule. Kranjcar has repeatedly said from the onset of this issue arising that there is no way that he will release his players for Team Melli while the club is involved in an official competition and Sepahan will strictly apply FIFA rulings.. [/column]
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