Queiroz outlines the team facing Nigeria among unprecedented presence of Iranian journalists.

Entourage of about 40 professionals from the local press arrive in São Paulo to cover the World Cup. Technical, finally, displays likely team

For Rodrigo Faber Sao Paulo

Globoesporte.globo.com

 over The Corinthians Training Center which has been a place with a remarkably low presence of journalist from Iran to cover their country’s team progress, suddenly experienced a large number of them turning up for training this Wednesday. During this afternoon’s activity led by coach Carlos Queiroz, an entourage of about 40 professionals Iranian press men arrived to begin the coverage of  the Asian national team during the World Cup. Coincidentally, it was the first time the coach outlined a starting lineup for the opening game against Nigeria, 16th in Curitiba.
  
Training journalists in Iran (Photo: Rodrigo Faber)
Iranian journalists were out in force in the training of the Asian team in São Paulo (Photo: Rodrigo Faber)

Queiroz positioned players in reduced space and then closed the training session – as is usual with coaches – trying to hide secrets from the preying eyes of the press..The goalkeeper remains the main mystery, since the three (Rahman Ahmadi, Alireza Haghighi and Daniel Davari) were tested in recent friendly matches. In the 2-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday, Haghighi remained the keeper during the whole game.   

players in training in Iran (Photo: Rodrigo Faber)
Iran won the starting lineup on Wednesday outline (Photo: Rodrigo Faber)

As the three goalkeepers worked separately, the Portuguese coach attended to the rest of the team in a 4-4-2 formation with: Montazeri, Amirhossein Sadeghi, Jalal Hosseini and Pooladi; Nekounam, Timotian, Haji Safi and Dejagah; Heydari and Goochannejad. The team still train twice in the CT Corinthians before the trip to Curitiba, scheduled for the afternoon of Saturday. The last practice session before the match will be conducted at the Arena da Baixada, the venue of the game.   

From the outside, the Iranian journalists were quite animated in their first contact with the team. Aided by the local federation, all traveled together to São Paulo, where they landed in the early hours of Wednesday. They monitor all matches of Iran on the spot. Apart from Nigeria, the Asian team faces Argentina on 21 June in Belo Horizonte, and Bosnia, the 25th, in Salvador.   

The Iranian press has a close relationship with the squad. Some players, when sighting known journalists in the CT Corinthians, greeted them from afar. The best bets of local professionals for the World Cup are three players who play in Europe: Ashkan Dejagah, Fulham (England), Reza Ghoochannejad, Charlton (England) and Alireza Jahanbakhsh, NEC (Netherlands) – 

players in training in Iran (Photo: Rodrigo Faber)
Training of Iran was closely followed by coach Carlos Queiroz (Photo: Rodrigo Faber)