Iran leave out Karimi for World Cup qualifier

Persianleague
- Aug 23, 2008
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DPA - Iran midfield star Ali Karimi has been left out of the squad for next month's World Cup qualification game against Saudi Arabia, ISNA news agency reported Saturday.

Karimi has not played since May after he had termed the current squad the weakest in his 10-year presence in the national team.

Iranian head coach Ali Daei, who is said not to have a good relation with the former Bayern Munich midfielder, had at that time given an alleged injury as reason for Karimi's omission.

But football insiders said that his exclusion was due to the critical remarks.

Daei has again called up German Bundesliga players Mehdi Mahdavikia (Frankfurt) and Vahid Hashemian (Bochum) for the September 6 match, the first qualification game in Asia group 2 where Iran will also meet the United Arab Emirates and the two Koreas.

The full squad is as follows:

Goalkeepers
Mehdi Rahmati
Ebrahim Mirzapour
Vahid Taleblou
Rahman Ahmadi

Defenders
Hadi Aghili
Jalal Hosseini
Mohsen Bengar
Sattar Zare
Mojtaba Shiri
Mohammad Nosrati
Hossein Kabi
Majeed Gholamnejad
Ahmad Alenemeh

Midfield
Mehdi Mahdavikia
Ferydoon Zandi
Masoud Shojaee
Javad Nekounam
Alireza Nikbakht
Pejman Nouri
Iman Moblali
Ebrahim Sadeghi
Mojtaba Jabbari
Mohammadreza Khalatbari
Ehsan Hajisaafi
Kianoosh Rahmati
Mohamad Parvin
Mohamad Noori
Milad Zanidpour
Maziar Zareh
Mehdi Rajabzadeh
Jalal Rafkhaei
Andranik Teymourian


Strikers
Vahid Hashemian
Gholamreza Rezaei
Mehrzad Madanchi
Mehdi Seydsalehi
Milad Meidavoudi
Rasoul Khatibi
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