Who will be scoring the goals for Iran?

After 20 games the top three goal scorers in the Iranian Pro League have scored 33 goals between them. Reza Enayati of Esteghlal FC has scored 12, Freydoon Fazli of Ahvaz 11, and Mehdi Rajabzadeh of Zob-Ahan FC 10.

To everyone’s surprise none of these guys has a regular place in the national team coach Branko Ivankovic’s squad; as a matter of fact neither does Siavash Akbarpour (7), Sohrab Bakhtiarzadeh (6), or Hossein Badamaki (6). One wonders from where Ivankovic is hoping to get goals.

You see, Ivankovic’s top two picks for the striker position are 37 year Ali Daei who has scored only four goals in twenty games, and Vahid Hashemian of Hannover 96 who with only one or two Bundesliga goals to his name is far from being a scoring threat. Number three behind these two is the 22 years old Arash Borhani who despite being a promising player has scored only five goals for Pas FC of Tehran.

In other words, Ivankovic has opted to go with three players who have a total of 10 goals between them at the expense of three who have totaled 33. The math just does not add up.

Perhaps Branko Ivankovic will prove me wrong when Iran finally plays a practice game some time in the near future, but this does not look good for the team’s prospects in the World Cup.