Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Tehran: Iran boss Carlos Queiroz on Wednesday named a 28-man preliminary squad that includes seven European-based players for training camps in Iran and Austria ahead of June’s FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
The squad will start an 18-day training exercise in Austria on May 12 and will have warm-up matches against Belarus, Montenegro and Angola.
Iran are in Group A alongside Argentina, Bosnia and Nigeria and will kick off their campaign against the Nigerians on June 16 before facing the South American giants five days later.
Team Melli will play their last group match against the Bosnians on June 25.
Queiroz has until June 2 to finalise the 23-man squad for the tournament.
The preliminary squad:
Goalkeepers: Daniel Davari (Eintracht Braunschweig), Alireza Haghighi (Sporting Covilha), Rahman Ahmadi (Sepahan), Sousha Makani (Foolad Khuzestan)
Defenders: Khosro Heidari (Esteghlal), Hossein Mahini (Persepolis), Steven Beitashour (Vancouver Whitecaps), Pejman Montazeri (Umm Salal), Jalal Hosseini (Persepolis), Amir Sadeghi (Esteghlal), Mohammad Reza Khanzadeh (Zob Ahan), Ahmad Alenemeh (Naft), Hashem Beikzadeh (Esteghlal), Ehsan Hajsafi (Sepahan), Mehrdad Pooladi (Persepolis).
Midfielders: Javad Nekounam (Al Kuwait), Andranik Teymourian (Esteghlal), Reza Haghighi (Persepolis), Ghasem Hadadifar (Zob Ahan), Bakhtiyar Rahmani (Foolad), Alireza Jahanbakhsh (NEC Nijmegen), Ashkan Dejagah (Fulham).
Forwards: Masoud Shojaei (Las Palmas), Mohammad Reza Khalatbari (Persepolis), Mehdi Sharifi (Sepahan), Reza Ghoochannejhad (Charlton), Karim Ansarifard (Persepolis), Sardar Azmoun (Rubin Kazan).