After the cancellation of Team Melli’s friendly against Thailand, an alternative match has been hastily arranged against Papua New Guinea in Shah Alam Stadium in Malaysia on Friday Nov 11th 2016.

Papua New Guinea is a member of the Oceanic Football Confederation. Its highest ever FIFA ranking was 160, in June 2004. In its last match on 17th June 2016, international Friendly,  Papua New Guinea defeated  Malaysia 2–0 in capital Port Moresby. A week before that , it lost the Final of the OFC Nation cup against New Zealand in Penalty Kick out after a goalless draw.

Both result are quite respectable for a nation that is still competing in the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers.

Team Melli , on the other hand , needed a warm up match before facing Syria in day 5 of the World Cup qualifiers. It is expected that the legionnaire players to be available for the Friday match against the not very tough opponents.

Team Melli will be missing 4 major players. Goalkeeper Biranvand due to injury, Ando Teymourian for non inclusion while Azmoun and Hajsafy are suspended for one match each.