Team Melli carried out its last practice session on Wednesday in Skopje’s main Stadium Philip II in preparation for the game against host Macedonia in the friendly international on Thursday.
The training session led by Carlos Queiroz was mostly light drills including acceleration practise, shooting and group passing. This was the only practise for the match stadium which will kick off at 1730 local time (20:00 Tehran Time)
Macedonia played against Azerbaijan on Sunday winning 3-1 with goals scored by M. Radeski, Goran Pandev and Nestorovski . The 32 years superstar of the team and Captain Goran Pandev is the most senior player and plays in Italy with Genoa.
Team Melli will be playing with the same usual line up possibly with two attackers, Azmoun and Taremi. However , Queiroz might find it more appropriate to solidify his midfield which could relegate Taremi to the bench while leaving Azmoun to spearhead the attack.
The absence of Teymourian could be significant loss , however there are plenty of good options for Queiroz in the midfield area although none has the experience of Teymourian. Ashkan Dejagah will be leading from the midfield.
Goalkeeping remains the most critical of the lines with 3 options that have not been performing up to a satisfactory level. Queiroz will be working extra to ensure a solid defense line featuring Hosseini , Montazeri in the middle of the defense while Hajsafy will occupy the left back position and Rezaeian on the right.
This will be the 4th match between Macedonia and Iran at full international level. The honors are even between the teams with a win each and one draw.
CURRENT FIFA WORLD RANKING
MACEDONIA 141 – IRAN 42
FYR of MACEDONIA Squad
| Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Club |
| GK | Stole Dimitrievski | 25 December 1993 (age 22) | Spain Granada B |
| GK | Igor Aleksovski | 24 February 1995 (age 21) | Republic of Macedonia Makedonija Gj. P. |
| DF | Vanche Shikov | 19 July 1985 (age 30) | Austria Austria Wien |
| DF | Stefan Ristovski | 12 February 1992 (age 24) | Croatia Rijeka |
| DF | Kire Ristevski | 22 October 1990 (age 25) | Hungary Vasas |
| DF | Leonard Zhuta | 9 August 1992 (age 23) | Croatia Rijeka |
| DF | Darko Velkovski | 21 June 1995 (age 20) | Republic of Macedonia Vardar |
| DF | Egzon Bejtulai | 7 January 1994 (age 22) | Republic of Macedonia Shkendija |
| DF | Gjoko Zajkov | 10 February 1995 (age 21) | Belgium Charleroi |
| MF | Ivan Trichkovski | 18 April 1987 (age 29) | Cyprus AEK Larnaca |
| MF | Aleksandar Trajkovski | 5 September 1992 (age 23) | Italy Palermo |
| MF | David Babunski | 1 March 1994 (age 22) | Serbia Red Star |
| MF | Enis Bardhi | 2 July 1995 (age 20) | Hungary Újpest |
| MF | Bojan Najdenov | 27 August 1991 (age 24) | Republic of Macedonia Rabotnichki |
| MF | Nikola Gjorgjev | 22 August 1997 (age 18) | Switzerland Grasshopper |
| MF | Boban Nikolov | 28 July 1994 (age 21) | Republic of Macedonia Vardar |
| MF | Dejan Peshevski | 5 August 1993 (age 22) | Slovakia Podbrezová |
| FW | Goran Pandev (Captain) | 27 July 1983 (age 32) | Italy Genoa |
| FW | Ilija Nestorovski | 12 March 1990 (age 26) | Croatia Inter Zaprešic |
| FW | Marjan Radeski | 10 February 1995 (age 21) | Republic of Macedonia Shkendija |
Head2Head
| Venue | Matches | W | D | L | Goals | + / – |
| H | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 – 4 | +1 |
| A | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 – 0 | +0 |
| N | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 – 0 | +0 |
| Total | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 – 4 | +1 |
Matches
| Date | Comp. | H / A / N | Final score | Stadium | Attendance |
| 18.11.2009 | Friendly | H | 1 – 1 | Azadi Stadium – Tehran | 1000 |
| 11.11.2005 | Friendly / Tehran Intl. Tournament | H | 1 – 2 | Azadi Stadium, Tehran. | 27000 |
| 09.06.2000 | Others / LG CUP | H | 3 – 1 | Azadi – Tehran | 40000 |