Ghalenoei calls up 25 for Belarus clash

PFDC - Iran boss Amir Ghalenoei selected a traditionally large squad for the friendly match against Belrus in Tehran's Azadi stadium on Wednesday, inviting 25 players.

Prominent names missing on the list are Vahid Hashemian, Ali Karimi, Mohammad Nosrati and Fereydoon Zandi. While Nosrati and Karimi were excused due to injuries, Hashemian was allowed to stay in Germany with his club. Zandi, despite showing improved form in Cyprus recently (one assist and one goal in the last two matches for Apollon Limassol), once more simply was not considered by Ghalenoei.

Below comes the complete list:

Goalkeepers:

Hassan Roudbarian (Pas Tehran)
Vahid Talebloo (Esteghlal Tehran)

Defenders:

Rahman Rezaei (AS Livorno, ITA)
Amir-Hossein Sadeghi (Esteghlal Tehran)
Hadi Shakouri (Pas Tehran)
Hadi Aghili (Sepahan Esfahan)
Jalal Hosseini (Saipa Tehran)
Pejman Montazeri (Foolad Khuzestan)
Pirouz Ghorbani (Esteghlal Tehran)

Midfielders:

Javad Nekounam (CA Osasuna, ESP)
Mehdi Mahdavikia (Hamburger SV, GER)
Andranik Teymourian (Bolton Wanderers, ENG)
Alireza Vahedi Nikbakht (Persepolis Tehran)
Hossein Kaabi (Al Emarat, UAE)
Hossein Kazemi (Esteghlal Tehran)
Mehrzad Madanchi (Persepolis Tehran)
Javad Kazemian (Al Shaab, UAE)
Ebrahim Sadeghi (Saipa Tehran)
Morteza Asadi (Saba Battery)
Maziar Zare (Malavan Anzali)
Mohammad Nouri (Sepahan Esfahan)

Strikers:

Reza Enayeti (Al Emarat, UAE)
Rasoul Khatibi (Al Sharjah, UAE)
Mehdi Rajabzadeh (Zob Ahan)
Hossein Badamaki (Persepolis Tehran)