The two European based Team Melli players, Karim Ansarifard of Osasuna and Sardar Azmoun of Rubin Kazan have joint their teammates in Tehran.

With the arrival of these two, Team Melli is now training with full squad in preparation for Next week’s match against South Korea in Azadi. Today morning was the third training session under the supervision of Carlos Queiroz and most of the players were active in training including Hashim Beikzadeh who suffered a knock during training and given a day off. 

Alireza Haghighi and Alireza Jahanbakhsh were given a day off following their late arrival from Europe , while Nekounam and Ghoochanejad were given light training in the gym as a recovery exercise following their involvement in league matches with their respective teams  before their arrival to Tehran.

Ashkan Dejagah in a brief interview with ISNA admitted that many fans were disappointed with him for leaving a European Team to play for a Qatari team “I am aware of such sentiment by some of the fans. It is a matter of people’s opinion and I respect that. I am the same Ashkan who grew up playing in Europe and will remain true to my standards and principles. The fact that I am in a different league now will not result in performances degradation.”

Dejagah also acknowledged that they are in a tough group n the Asian Games. “These teams prepared themselves well and played several friendly matches. I monitor Qatar team closely and I see that they have developed into a fine and organized team much better than what they were at a few years back. We have to admit that we are in a tough group and need to be at our best to qualify.”

“I urge the fans to flock to Azadi to support the team. The Koreans are here to take revenge after two consecutive defeats, We need the backing of the fans and I dearly hope that they will fill Azadi” the ex-Fulham player , Dejagah said