Mehdi Mohammad Nabi, Team Melli manager spoke of the possibility of inviting Persepolis Captain Mohammad Nouri to Team Melli in case of the failure in getting the release of Pooladi and Rafei from Military Service.
During the Sunday training session of Team Melli, Mohammad Nabi said “As Carlos Queiroz has stated earlier, our opponents have prepared themselves quite well. On our side, we have tried our best to match them and prepare the team for this competition (…) . Our start was with the match against South Korea followed by several training camps”
“We have up to January 1st to submit the final list to the Asian Cup Organizing committee and the AFC. Because of that, Queiroz opted to leave two vacant places for the players he wants to add.” Mohammad Nabi added without mentioning the name of the players in Queiroz’s mind. When pressed for an answer and if the two places are reserved for Pooladi and Rafei, , Mohammad Nabi said “Yes. These two players are in the plans of Queiroz and he wishes to include them in his squad. But, I and Mr. Kaffashian are law abiding and need to stick to the regulations of this country. However, there are some negotiation between the Minister of Sports and the Military on the subject matter.”
“We do not have the liberty of playing an international friendly match without the approval of FIFA. The Palestine match was registered with FIFA and the unilateral cancelation of this match by Palestine FA was totally an unprofessional act. Nevertheless, any actions to be taken against the Palestinians , is the job of Ali Kaffashian” Mohammad Nabi said in reaction to the match cancelation and the demand by Queiroz for compensations from Palestine FA..
“We have played 7 friendly games in preparation for the AFC Asian Cup and still have one more to go against Iraq in Sydney.” Mohammad Nabi thus considers playing against reserves of club teams as preparation matches !
“Carlos Queiroz assessment of the squad and the players’ forms is quite good, however more work is needed. Sometimes friendly games matches end up with results that might not be the same if it was an official match (..)”
“Our preparation program started three and a half months ago. We had a very well laid program with the help of the Football League commission. The only setback was this Palestine match cancelation which has really hurt our plans.” The Team Manager explained.
Team Melli manager said that “The Coach has the full authority to select which players he wants. He has an assessment program where the players are technically fully analyzed and evaluated according to the requirement of the game plans. Mohammad Nouri is one of the players that might be added to the list.”