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