Iran squad has stars banned for Israel match
TEHRAN: Iran announced its squad for the 2018 World Cup late Sunday, with two midfield stars making the cut despite being banned last year for playing against an Israeli team.
Masoud Shojaei and Ehsan Haji Safi were among the 35 players announced by Iran’s Football Federation on its website.
Sports officials said last August that Shojaei, 33, and Haji Safi, 28, would be banned for life after appearing for their Greek club Panionios against an Israeli team.
Iran does not recognise the Jewish state and bars its athletes from appearing against Israelis.
But there was uproar from fans and confusion reigned over the issue, with Shojaei returning to the national squad in March and Haji Safi never actually banned. Iran is unable to openly discuss the ban on facing Israelis because it breaches international sporting regulations.
There were no surprises in the rest of the squad, but Iranian fans will be pinning their hopes on 24-year-old winger and attacking midfielder Alireza Jahanbakhsh, who plays for The Netherlands’ AZ Alkmaar.
This season, Jahanbakhsh became the first Asian player to become top scorer in a major European league, with 21 league goals. Iran’s national team has been coached the past seven years by Portugal’s Carlos Queiroz, a former one-season manager at Real Madrid and an assistant to Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.
Team Melli faces a tough group in the World Cup, with Spain, Portugal and Morocco.
PERU CONFIRM CAPTAIN GUERRERO IN SQUAD
Peru’s football federation have confirmed captain Paolo Guerrero has been selected in the team’s World Cup squad following the expiry of a doping ban.
Guerrero was banned for 12 months after testing positive for cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine following Peru’s World Cup qualifier with Argentina in October last year.
Global soccer governing body FIFA reduced the ban to six months but the World Anti-Doping Agency asked the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport to increase the sentence to between one and two years.
SON HEADLINES SOUTH KOREA SQUAD
SEOUL: Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min headlined South Korea’s preliminary 28-man World Cup squad unveiled Monday, as coach Shin Tae-yong included 12 defenders in an attempt to plug leaks at the back.
Spurs star Son was named along with Ki Sung-yueng of Swansea City, just relegated from the English Premier League, and FC Augsburg’s Koo Ja-cheol as Shin rolled out his Europe-based senior players.
The Taeguk Warriors reached the semi-finals when South Korea co-hosted the 2002 World Cup, but they struggled in qualifying and have been drawn against Sweden, Mexico and holders Germany in a tough Group F.
Top-rated Son scored 18 goals in all competitions this term for Spurs, who finished third in the Premier League to secure another season of Champions League football.