Team Melli squad (March 2016)

[Z Joon]

Alireza Haghighi got dropped?!

I don't think the way he's been playing for club and NT, as well as being mostly benched makes this any surprising. I'm pretty sure at least that his 1st Gk spot is lost since the last TM games. We have 3 excellent, young and in-form keepers in Mazaheri, Beiranvand and Akhbari

[04041374]

Btw since Beiranvand is suspended for the game against India, we will either see Akhbari or Mazaheri in goal.

[K. Nader]

Very close to what I predicted! Shojaeian made the squad.

But pretty crazy that a promising young defender like Kanaani is dropped for an older Pourghaz in such a stage of the competition where we can experiment the most...

Overall, aside from Pouraliganji, CQ has shown a preference for older and more seasoned defenders (e.g. Aghili, Hosseini, Montazeri, Sadeghi, and now, Pourghaz). I'm sure Kanaani is still one of those players that's 'on deck' but he too needs to improve his form (especially after an abysmal U23 Asian Cup).

[Z Joon]

All in all I have to say I'm satisfied with the list, good mix of youth and experience. Pourghaz is very likely to be part of the "short-term" players CQ has been talking about (Shojaei as well for sure), however I don't know how we can benefit from such players at this stage of the competition vs India and Oman at home, as opposed to the final round where I would have understood as we need more "safe" options rather than prospects.

And hopefully Shojaeian can have the opportunity to humiliate Indian players with his skill show

[BacheLot]

Not so experimental final list ..!
Shows CQ is very result oriented & very keen on obtaining couple of solid wins, so that we fare better for selection of final stage of WCQs. ..!
I hope this new kid shojaeeian is as good as some claim & manages to make a case for his future inclusion too..!

Shojaee inclusion makes sense,only if he is in better fitness & club form than he was last season. !?? Same goes for PAG
Haghighi absence is 99% due to injury..! Great chance for other 2 to make a case for themselves as future 1st choice.
Reza is in his best fitness & form since the WC. Wouldn't surprise me if he started @ least one of the 2WCQs.

[irani8perspolis]

Seems like CQ has a fetish for QSL based players (too much of them). I can't believe Pouraliganji made the list instead of Kanaani...

kanaani did not impress at all at AFC U22 championship...... pouraliganji is much more experienced and a better player, yes he made a mistake going to Al Sadd, but we would be punishing ourselves if we cut him from the list

[PSGman#19]

kanaani did not impress at all at AFC U22 championship...... pouraliganji is much more experienced and a better player, yes he made a mistake going to Al Sadd, but we would be punishing ourselves if we cut him from the list

Not we would make a favor for ourselves : by cutting automatically a QSL rookie, we would send a firm message to other TM candidate that could be tempted to join QSL instead of Europe.

[Nokhodi]

maybe it has something to do with his injury but it's weird because according to portuguese medias , he was allowed to leave his club to join TM camp

Probably got to leave early to be in Iran for Norooz.
He is still injured I assume.

[PersianLegion]

kanaani did not impress at all at AFC U22 championship...... pouraliganji is much more experienced and a better player, yes he made a mistake going to Al Sadd, but we would be punishing ourselves if we cut him from the list

Kanaani played in wrong position in U22 team as RB running the length of the pitch left and right while he is a heavy player and his right place was at CB.

Kanaani is better than PAG at CB position and our only hope for future in this position atm.

[Karimi 8]

Great list next step kick Masoud out.

[04041374]

Since Dejagah is suspended against India, I hope that Shojaeian gets a chance to prove himself.

[persepolisfan]

I wouldn't be surprised if shojaei started unfortunately

[STYX]

Shojaei might be in end of his time in TM but still is in top + experiences so my respect and good wishes to Masoud Shojaei

[The Realist]

I wouldn't say Masoud is at the top of his form but he's shown d cent form in the last few games- definitely good enough for India Oman call up

cq need at least 2 experienced players in every line of the squad to gel in with the youngsters - that does not mean they would automatically get a game but in training and perhaps on the field their experience is invaluable

[Iran_19]

Good to see Shojaeian there. I also hope Mazaheri start against India, knowing Beiranvand is suspended and Haghighi is injured.