The shortlist of 24 players making it to Portugal has been announced by FFIRI after the last round of the Persian Gulf League matches have been completed. The team will be flying to Lisbon tonight (Saturday 4th Oct) where two tests matches are arranged against Portuguese clubs Estoril and Benfica. Team Melli will be utilizing the FIFA days for this camp.
The selection of the players, as always, raised a few questions on who selected the team? Mehdi Rahmati inclusion in the list did not last long as expected, while there is no place for one of the stars of the league, Mohammadreza Khalatbary. While khalatbaruy was showing his worth in the match against Persepolis on Friday with a splendid assist to Mehdi Sharifi to score a last minute winner, neither of the two made the 24 players list of Queiroz.
However, by some divine rights, Mehrdad Pooladi who has not kicked a ball in official competitions since the last match in the FIFA World Cup and currently has no club after he failed to sign with a Qatari team, is included in this squad!
There is also a question mark on the selection of Karim Ansarifard , a player who has not featured in many of Osasuna matches this season and sometimes he is not even included in the bench , yet he is selected for Team Melli ahead of many capable active playing forwards.
On a positive note, the list includes several rookies mostly from Naft Tehran and Foolad Khuzestan clubs. Ahmadzadeh , Rafei . Ameeri, Pouraliganji and Ghafoori are players that have been instrumental in their teams this season and have been duly selected for the squad. The old guards who have failed to impress with Team Melli in the FIFA World Cup are still there with the exception of Baithashour and Davari who are not able to join due to club or other commitments.
The biggest surprise must be the absence of any players from one of the two most popular teams in Iran, Persepolis. The club has been suffering a dreadful form and sacked coach Daei lately. That is the first time such non-inclusion of a Persepolis players has occurred. On the other hand no players from the league leaders Tractorsazi have been included. This raises many questions about the selections and if they are based on current form and performance or is it player’s reputation or other factors..
Goalkeepers
Alireza HAGHIGHI (Penafiel), Alireza BIRANVAND (Naft Tehran), Mohsen FROUZAN (Esteghlal)
Defender
Mehrdad POOLADI (No Club), Hashim BEIGZADEH (Esteghlal), ,Jalal HOSSEINI (Al Ahli QAT) , Pejman MONTAZERI (Umm Salal SC QAT), Morteza POURALIGANJI (Naft Tehran), AmirHossein SADEGHI (Esteghlal) , Vourya GHAFFORI (Sepahan)
MIDFIELD
Andranik TEYMOURIAN (Esteghlal), Javad NEKOUNAM (Osasuna ESP), Ahmad ABDULLAZADEH (Foolad Khuzestan), Omid EBRAHIMI (Esteghlal),, Ehsan HAJSAFY(Sepahan), Ashkan DEJAGAH (Al Arabi QAT), Soroush RAFEI (Foolad Khuzestan), Masoud SHOJAEI (Al Shahaniya QAT), Khosrow HEYDARI (Esteghlal).
FORWARDS
Reza GHOOCHANNEJAD (Al Kuwat SC KWI), Sardar AZMOUN (Rubin Kazan RUS), Karim ANSARIFARD (Osasuna ESP), Vahid AMEERI (Naft Tehran) , AliReza JAHANBAKHSH (NEC Nijmegen NED)