The new list of players selected for Team Melli forthcoming training camp has been announced. The venue of training is still unknown. It is a toss between Kish Island or South Africa.
The list is not very different from the one that Queiroz has selected from the day he took the job. A few players here and there are selected but never given the opportunity to replace the older players especially those who fail to perform Mehrdad Pooladi , Queiroz’s favorite player is not in the list , not out of the Portuguese coach choice , but because he was ordered not to pick him as a result of Military Services issues (the good old fake service certificate).
Mohammad Nouri , Persepolis Captain makes a comeback in Team Melli. The significant change in this current squad is that at last , the league leader manages a couple of players in the list.
Sousha Makani , the calamity Persepolis goalkeeper who has been one of the weak links of the popular Tehran club , has been selected ahead of icons like Mehdi Rahmati and Rahman Ahmadi in goal. On the other hand , Masoud Shojaei , whose team is lingering at the bottom of Qatar Star league and has been highly criticized for his poor delivery , is selected again. Another weak-performer in Karim Ansarifard, who is currently a peripheral player in a 2nd division Osasuna team in Spain is also selected. Ansarifard has failed to impress since joining Osasuna. On the bright side of the selection , Saghebi , the young Tractorsazi player who scored against Esteghlal in the top of the league clash on Friday and Abdulahzadeh the promising Foolad Khuzestan youngster are included in the squad.
The problem though is that both players are also in the squad of the Olympic team preparing for the Qatar International Friendly tournament in January of 2015.
The Squad.
GOALKEEPERS
Alireza HAGHIGHI (Penafiel), Sousha MAKANI (Persepolis), Mohsen FROUZAN (Esteghlal)
DEFENDERS
Hashim BEIGZADEH (Esteghlal), ,Jalal HOSSEINI (Al Ahli QAT) , Pejman MONTAZERI (Umm Salal SC QAT), Morteza POURALIGANJI (Naft Tehran), AmirHossein SADEGHI (Esteghlal) , Vourya GHAFFORI (Sepahan). MohammadReza KHANZADEH (Persepolis) , Habib GORDANI (Tractorsazi)
MIDFIELD
Andranik TEYMOURIAN (Esteghlal), Javad NEKOUNAM (Osasuna ESP), Ahmad ABDULLAZADEH (Foolad Khuzestan), Omid EBRAHIMI (Esteghlal),, Ehsan HAJSAFY(Sepahan), Ashkan DEJAGAH (Al Arabi QAT), Khosrow HEYDARI (Esteghlal), Shahin SAGHEBI (Tractorsazi), Mohammad NOURI (Persepolis)
FORWARDS
Reza GHOOCHANNEJAD (Al Kuwat SC KWI), Sardar AZMOUN (Rubin Kazan RUS), Karim ANSARIFARD (Osasuna ESP), AliReza JAHANBAKHSH (NEC Nijmegen NED) , Soroush RAFEI (Foolad Khuzestan), Masoud SHOJAEI (Al Shahaniya QAT)