Team Melli started training camp as of today in preparation for the matches against Iraq and the UAE at the Olympic Hotel.

 On the first day of the camp, the players from the domestic league, along with Ahmad Nourollahi and Mehdi Ghaedi both members of Shabab Al-Ahli of Dubai, began with initially going through the strict health protocols and underwent PCR testing with the technical staff of the national team. The whole camp will be quarantined until the negative results them being part of the squad.  After the test results are confirmed, the teamwork will start and the rest of the players and legionnaires, according to the schedules, will introduce themselves to the technical staff this morning and will go to quarantine to find out the results of the tests.

The Squad will be holding two sessions of training on daily basis in two groups from 15:00 to 17:00. After the legionnaires’ tests are out and assumed to be negative, the first training of the national team will be held tomorrow with the presence of all the players. According to the rules and requirements of the Asian Football Confederation, in compliance with health protocols, the national team will train behind closed doors.

Dragan Skocic has named a list of 27  players for these two matches, although the regulation allows a squad of 23 players for the match. It is announced that no players will be sent home but a list of 23 players as required by the regulation will be announced for each of the two matches.

Shahab Zahedi, who plays for Zorya in  Ukraine has finally been selected for the first time. His recently departed teammate Allhtae Sayyadmanesh is also named in the squad. The list includes one legionnaire player who is under suspension by the Federation’s disciplinary committee the case of Hossein Kanani-Zadegan was charged with offenses not related to a match but to derogatory remarks he made,  which has gone viral on social media. When quizzed about this, a spokesperson for Team Melli said that “unless we receive specific instruction from the concerned department of the federation, any player can be selected for Team Melli.”

The squad welcomes back Mehdi Taremi, another player who was in trouble after he created unnecessary problems for himself and hence left out of Team Melli’s last two matches both of which Iran has won.