AFC - Iran coach Amir Ghalenoiee has announced
a squad of 21 players for Wednesday’s AFC Asian Cup 2007 penultimate
qualifier against Chinese Taipei from which Team Melli is expected to take
maximum points and reserve their spot in the Finals.
Ghalenoiee has named a strong squad, calling up his full complement of
imports and including only defender Ali Ansarian, who made a controversial
move from Persepolis to Esteghlal this summer, as the new face.
With Chinese Taipei, who are yet to open their account in Group B, not
expected to pose much of a problem, Hanover 96 star Vahid Hashemian has
already put in a request to let him stay with his club and prepare for the
October 14 Bundesliga game against Frankfurt.
Iran are two points behind Korea Republic, who have 10, in Group B while
Syria are third with four points.
Meanwhile, Iran were held goalless by hosts Jordan in their second and final
encounter of the LG Cup on Friday. Ghalenoiee handed over the armband to Ali
Karimi for the game in which Iran held the upper hand for long periods but
failed to translate their dominance into goals.
Iran had defeated Iraq 2-0 in the opening game.
THE SQUAD
Ebrahim Mirzapour, Hassan Roudbarian, Vahid Taleblo, Siavash Akbarpour,
Mohamad Nosrati, Hadi Shakouri, Alireza Nikbakht Vahedi, Mehdi Mahdavikia,
Ali Karimi, Farhad Majidi, Hossein Kaabi, Mehdi Rajab Zade, Rahman Rezaie,
Pejman Nouri, Ali Ansarian, Javad Nekounam, Andranik Teymourian, Javad
Kazemian, Reza Enayati, Rasoul Khatibi and Vahid Hashemian.
Livescore