FFIRI’s announced the list of 23 players selected for the International friendship tournament in Doha, Qatar. Nearly half of the team members who played for the U23 team in the Asian Games have been dropped for this tournament including famous players such as Kaveh Rezaei , Mehdi Sharifi, Mohsen Mosallman, Morteza Pouraliganji , Shahriyar Shirvand , Yaghoub Karimi and  MohamadReza Khanzadeh. The performance of these players were quite appalling particularly in the humiliating defeat against Vietnam resulting in Iran not even qualifying from a 3 team group in Asian Games. MohamadReza Khanzadeh added insult to injury by being red carded after he pushed a Vietnamese player to the ground and escaped heavy sanction by AFC due to this disgraceful act. Many new faces have been selected  for the squad from diverse places.  A young promising player like Darvishi who was born in Minab on the Persian Gulf shores made the list as well as unknown or unheard of names such as MohammadHossein PourAghaMalaki. As usual in the last few years , neither Persepolis nor Esteghlal provided any players for the Omid team (U23). The team will assemble in Tehran Azadi complex where they will be undergoing light training without the head coach Vingada. The Portuguese coach of the Olympic Team is out of the country and unable to return fearing being arrested for tax evasion. This is yet another anomaly of Iranian football. It is not clear who will take charge of the training, although Mohammad Khakpour and Mehdi Tartar have been named as assistant coaches to Nelo Vingada. Habib Kashani , the ex-CEO of Persepolis club is currently the Team Manager.  

List of Iran U-23 Squad

November 2014

Seq	Player Name	Club	Birth date	Post
1	Ali Karimi	Sepahan	11-Feb-94	FW
2	Amir Abedzadeh	Rah Ahan	26-Apr-93	GK
3	Aram Abbasi	Saba Qom	13-Jul-94	MF
4	Arash Rezavand	Naft Tehran	05-Oct-93	MF
5	Arsalan Mottahari	Naft Tehran	10-Mar-93	MF
6	Ehsan Pahlavan	Gostarish Foolad	25-Jun-93	MF
7	Farshid Esmaeili	Fajr Sepasi	23-Feb-94	MF
8	Hojat Sedghi	Mes Kerman	07-Feb-93	GK
9	Mehdi Mehdipour	Rah Ahan	21-Mar-89	MF
10	Mehdi Torabi	Saipa Alborz	10-Sep-94	FW
11	Milad Mohammadi Kashmarzi	Nirooi Zamini	29-Sep-93	DF
12	MohamadReza Akhbari	Saipa Alborz	15-Feb-93
13	Mohammad Daneshgar	Fajr Sepasi	20-Jan-94	MF
14	Mohammad Hossein Mordmand	Sepahan	22-Jun-93	DF
15	Mohammad Sattari	Rah Ahan	30-Oct-93
16	MohammadAmin Darvishi	Gostarish Foolad	20-May-93	DF
17	MohammadHossein Kanan Zadegan	Persepolis	23-Mar-94	DF
18	MohammadHossein PourAghaMalaki
19	Morteza AghaKhan Mahallati	Peykan	05-Apr-93	DF
20	Roozbeh Chashmi	Saba Qom	24-Jul-93	MF
21	Shahin Saghebi	Tractorsazi Tabriz	45-Aug-93	FW
22	Vahid Haidariya	Peykan	02-Jan-93	DF
23	Yusuf Vakya	Foolad Khuzestan	30-Sep-91	DF