the initial list of domestic players to be invited to Team Melli, some prominent players will be eliminated from the FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Bahrain.

The vaccination of the Iran-based Team Melli players started on Monday, and in the first stage, the staff and executives were vaccinated along with the players playing in the domestic league plus two legionnaires. With that in mind, Skocic has completed his initial roster for Bahrain, and it is unlikely that any more players will be added to the squad, however,  no player has yet been confirmed.Ehsan Haj Safi, Omid Nourafkan, Payam Niazmand, Daniel Ismailifar, Mehdi Ghayedi, Ali Gholizadeh, Kamal Kamiabinia, Kaveh Rezaei, Hossein Kananizadegan, Ahmad Noorollahi, Mehdi Torabi, Vahid Amiri, Akbar Imani, Milad Sarlak, Abolfazl Jalali, Aref Gholami, Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri and Siamak Nemati were the players who received the Corona vaccine.According to this list, some indication of the final list of Dragan Skucic traveling to Bahrain can be speculated. * Continued absence of Vouria Ghafouri and inviting a new right back. With the invitation of Daniel Ismailifar, Sepahan’s right-back, for vaccination, he is the latest player invited by Skocic for this post. The head coach of the national team had previously invited players such as Najarian and Shiri, but it seems that with their failure in previous camps, Ismailifar has been preferred to Vouria Ghafouri and possibly Ramin Rezaian. Siamak Nemati is also another figure in the right-back position. There is also Jafar Salmani in this position, who was made his debut against Syria and will probably be added to the squad.

Hamed Lak is out of Luck!

In the previous squad, with the absence of Abedzadeh due to travel restrictions in Portugal, as well as Rashid Mazaheri, being diagnosed positive with Cormona,  Hamed Lak was added, but after about a month from the national team camp, Hamed Lak was eliminated. And Mazaheri received the vaccine along with Payam Niazmand.

Of course, given that Abedzadeh and Beiranvand are likely to be called up after the conclusion of the Belgian and Portuguese leagues, it remains to be seen which of the four goalkeepers Skocic will cross.

* League top scorer is out

With quite a heavy traffic on the team’s offensive line, Sajjad Shahbazadeh was unable to convince Skocis that he is worthy of Team Melli jersey. The League Top scorer, replaced Ghayedi in the previous camp as the Esteghlal forward contracted  Corona, but he did not get the opportunity to play against Syria.

* Choose 23 players from 36 people!

Currently, 16 domestic players along with Ali Gholizadeh and Kaveh Rezaei are in Skocic’s initial list. On the other hand, legionnaires such as Alireza Beiranvand, Milad Mohammadi, Morteza Pourali Ganji, Sadegh Moharremi, Seyed Majid Hosseini, Allahyar Sayadmanesh, Mehdi Taremi, Amir Abedzadeh, Jafar Salmani, Sardar Azmoun, Saeed Ezatollahi, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Saman Ghodos, Omid Ebrahimi, Ali Karimi, Shoja Khalilzadeh and Karim Ansari-Fard are the players invited to the previous camps by Skocic. The legionnaires’ number is 18 which makes a total of 36 players currently available for Skocic.

In the last camp, 12 legionnaires were present and it was announced that due to the COVID19 conditions, it was not possible to invite Ghodod, Jahanbakhsh, and Abedzadeh due to flight restrictions, Pourali Ganji and Moharrami were not invited due to injuries and Kaveh Rezaei was tested positive for coronae. The number of Legionnaire players considered by Skocic reaches 18.

Eventually, Skocic will have to announce the names of 23 players to play in Bahrain, which will remove about 13 players from the starting lineup.

* Worrying days for Team Melli players

A look at the situation of ready players inside and outside Iran shows that the head coach must cross some famous players in all the lines. There are currently several goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, and strikers on the list, each of whom is a key player in their own teams.

For example, there is heavy traffic on the offensive line. Currently, Azmoun, Tarmi, Ansarifard, Rezaei, Sayadmanesh and Ghaedi are the forwards available for Team Melli. It remains to be seen which of these forwards Skocis will choose. The Chances of Rezaei and Sayyadmanish will be slim.

In the defense, PourAli Ganji, Hosseini, Kananizadegan, Khalilzadeh, and Gholami are the five central defenders who are in the preliminary list and one person will definitely miss the line. Most probably that player will be Gholami whose club Esteghlal was one of the worst defensive teams in the AFC Champions League.

In the midfield, Kamiabinia and Sarlak have entered the preliminary list for the first time. Also, Omid Ebrahimi, Ahmad Noorollahi, Ali Karimi, Omid Nourafkan, Vahid Amiri, Ali Gholizadeh, Siamak Nemati, Saman Ghodos, Alireza Jahanbehsh, etc. are others who will eventually be invited only 8 people. Kamiabinia and Sarlak will have little chance. Jahanbakhsh has been poor all season and a fringe player for his club Brighton. Karimi and Nourafakn might struggle to make the final list too.

In the coming weeks, the sensitivity and stress among the national team players will increase, and it remains to be seen who will make the roster to Bahrain.

THE EXPECTED SQUAD

our prediction is based on the league performance of each player. the analysis of the clubs and suitability. There were few points given to the previous performances and historic records in Team Melli as this has no value in this challenging present environment.

#	Player	Club	Country
GOALKEEPERS
1	ABEDZADEH, Amir	C.S. Marítimo
2	BIRANVAND, Alireza	Royal Antwerp
3	NIAZMAND, Payam	Sepahan
DEFENDERS
4	KHALILZADEH, Shoja	Al Rayyan
5	HOSSEINI, Majeed	Trabzonspor
6	KANANI-ZADEGAN, Hossein	Persepolis
7	MOHAMMADI, Milad	Gent
8	JALALI, Abofazl	Saipa Alborz
9	MOHARRAMI, Sadegh	Dynamo Zagreb
10	POURALIGANJI, Morteza	Shenzhen FC
MIDFIELD
11	AMIRI, Vahid	Persepolis
12	EBRAHIMI, Omid	Al Ahli
13	NEMATI, Siamak	Persepolis
14	HAJSAFY, Ehsan	Sepahan
15	NOORALLAHIE, Ahmad	Persepolis
16	EZATOLLAHI, Saeid	Vejle Boldklub
17	TORABI, Mehdi	Persepolis
18	GHODOS, Saman	Brentford
FORWARDS
19	ANSARIFARD, Karim	AEK Athens
20	AZMOUN, Sardar	Zenit St. Petersburg
21	GHOLIZADEH, Ali	Chareloei
22	GHAYEDI, Mehdi	Esteghlal
23	TAREMI, Mehdi	FC Porto