Houman Afazeli talks to reporters

Team Melli assistant coach Houman Afazeli told reporters on Friday that the list of players for the Oman tournament will be announced at the end of the Round 19 of the Iranian Professional League on Saturday.

The selected players are to report to their Team Melli quarters at the Olympic Hotel and will fly to Oman on Sunday.

Afazeli explained that due to unavailability of the first string players the coaching staff intends to use this opportunity to try our new players.

“The younger players will have an opportunity to convince the coaches. And I think because the teams in this tournament are relatively even, I think it makes it an even better opportunity for them to prove their worth”, said Afazeli.

Talking about the Europe based players and their participation in Team Melli’s camp in Sapin, Afazeli continued, “We have informed them of the details, and they will try to get their club’s permission to attend.”

Afazeli admitted that the coaching staff knows very little about Andalusia select team that is to play a friendly with Team Melli while in Spain. “We know that they have three or four capped players”, said Afazeli “Friendly matches are a good opportunity for the coaching staff to try different and new ideas, so we are not necessarily going to make changes because of who our opponent is”

Team Melli is scheduled to spend a week of training in the Basque Country approximately a week from now.”