Team Melli was supposed to play its second friendly game against Mali in Antalya Stadium, Turkey this Evening. Due to the outbreak of COVID19 in the Mali squad, only 13 players were fit enough and available for the match.

The match then declared canceled

Both of these teams were featuring in their second friendly fixture during this international match window with Mali having defeated Ghana 3-0 on Thursday, while Iran enjoyed a 2-1 victory against Uzbekistan on Friday. This game was in doubt a couple of days ago due to four unnamed players in the Mali squad testing positive for Covid-19, the fixture is still scheduled to take place, but it is unknown how much more of a weakened team that Mali will field.

The African nation had been showing some good solid form in recent outings and they go into this contest with six clean sheets in their last nine games but without knowing how strong they will be it’s hard to be confident in their chances. Iran’s new coach Dragan Skocic will want to take a look at as many players as he can so expect some changes from the line-up against Uzbekistan. Sardar Azmounm the sorer of the opening goals, left the camp early Mali as he has returned to his club, Zenit St. Petersburg in Russia.