President meets national soccer team

Tehran - President Mohammad Khatami met early Thursday with the members of Iran's national soccer team in their training camp for the upcoming visits with North Korea on Friday and with Bahrain on Wednesday next week.

During the visit, the national soccer team's officials briefed the president about their plans and programs as well as their rivals.

President Khatami, reportedly, has decided to attend Azadi stadium on Wednesday and watch the encounter between Iran and Bahrain.

The move has provoked Iranian all-star team who are preparing to visit North Korea within the framework of 2006 world cup football games in Germany.

Boosted from Iran's 2-1 away victory over North Korea in the first leg, Iran's hopes for a birth in the world cup is mounting.

However, Iran's Croate coach Branko Ivankovich cautioned his men and said "we should not take every thing for granted".

Iran faces FIFA ban handed in the wake of loss of seven lives in Tehran Azadi stadium in a stampede followed by Iran-Japan world cup qualifiers.

World football body FIFA had cut the number of Iranian spectators to 50,000, but Iran said it would slash the quota to about 32,000.