A depleted Team Melli will be flying to Tashkent on Tuesday 11:00 am missing 7 players. The latest additions, is one of the most experienced players, Seyed Jalal Hosseini and Foolad young starlet , Soroush Rafei. The pair is facing administration issues preventing them from leaving Iran.
As reported earlier in teammelli.com , Hosseini is facing tax evasion charges due to the non-payment of taxes while he was playing with Persepolis. Hosseini learned of his dilemma when he returned to Iran after the end of the QSL season where he was playing with Al Ahli in Qatar. Hosseini is adamant that according to his contract , Persepolis was supposed to pay for his income taxes , something they never did.
Soroush Rafei is faced with the military service which in Iran means the person is not allowed to leave the country until the completion of his duty. However, there are exemptions based on admissible evidences. Queiroz personally took Rafei’s issue to task but it appears that his efforts were fruitless.
Although the decision on both are not final with another 30 odd hours remaining to the flight , it is hardly unlikely that the matter will be resolved. Hosseini’s absence will be a real blow to Team Melli already missing Amir Hossein Sadeghi in the central defense and Mehrdad Pooladi. Montazeri will most probably be paired with young Pouraliganji in the central defense while Ghafoori , Heydari or Beikzadeh will be occupying the defensive flanks.
The list of the absentees on the trip to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan is as follows:
- Ashkan Dejagah (Injury)
- Alireza Jahanbakhsh (injury)
- Ghassim Haddadifar (Fatigue)
- Jalal Hosseini (Taxation)
- Karim Ansarifard (Form)
- Mehrdad Pooladi (Military Service)
- Soroush Rafei (Military Service)