Reuters - Former Asian player
of the year Ali Karimi insists he has not been invited to rejoin the Iran
squad for their remaining World Cup qualifiers, despite the lifting of his
ban for speaking out against the country's soccer federation.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a huge soccer fan, called for Karimi's
suspension to be lifted for the good of the team, but the midfielder, rated
as one of Asia's best, said no one has yet approached him.
"It is said that I was allowed to come back to the team but nobody has
called me yet... there are some personal and irrational viewpoints that
forced me out," Karimi said in a letter sent to the Mehr news agency,
printed in Thursday's Tehran Times.
