Ali Karimi and Farhad Majidi have not been summoned to the national team. When asked if the two players have the chance to return to the national team, Ghotbi said, “100 percent. The door is open to all the players. We are going to be a successful team in the Asian Cup and will take advantage of our best players,”
Iran, who is preparing itself for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, recently defeated Armenia and China in two friendlies. The top Asian team is scheduled to play South Korea in Seoul on Tuesday.
“We have a bad memory of playing in Seoul against South Korea. Iran was held to a draw against the Korean team and eventually failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. We want to be happy at the end of the friendly against South Korea,” Ghotbi concluded.