Marc Wilmots announced the squad list of Team Melli for the match against Hong Kong which will be Iran’s opening match for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022
In the new Mark Wilmotz roster, Esteghlal , Persepolis and Tractorsazi have the lion share of the players. Sepahan Esfahan and Padidah Shahr Khodro who are currently leading the Persian Gulf Football League table, have no representation in Team Melli.
Estghala has 4 players (Hossein Hosseini, Siavash Yazdani, Ali Karimi and Vouria Ghafouri ), Persepolis has 6 (Alireza Biranvand, Vahid Amiri, Hossein Kanani Zadegan, Mehdi Torabi, Mohammad Naderi and Ahmad Nourollahi ) while Tractorsazi of Tabriz has 3 players (Rashid Mazaheri, Ehsan Haj Safi and Masoud Shojaei)
There are prominent absentees in the list and the most surprising is the Captain Ashkan Dejagah. Tractor midfielder, who has been ever-present in Team Melli in the last 9 years, is nowhere to be seen in the list despite his brilliant performance in the first two weeks of the Premier League. Dejagah was instrumental in his team defeat of the defending champions Persepolis a few days ago.
On the other hand, the Team Melli selectors have invited Persepolis defender Kanani -Zadegan , who has not played a single minute in the league this season!
Siavash Yazdani and Mohammad Naderi are the two rookies
Another major absentee is former Esteghlal defender Rouzbeh Cheshmi. The reason given for his exclusion is due to uncertainty about his future club after his contract expired with Esteghlal.
There is also no place in the squad for Saeed Ezzatollahi, who recently moved from Russian club to Belgian team Eupen. His status and lack of match fitness were deemed unacceptable for the upcoming match against Hong Kong.
The Iranian national football team will face Hong Kong at 9:37 pm on Tuesday, September 19, in the qualifying round of the World Cup and the Asian Nations Cup.
