The new list of Iran’s national football team to participate in the Iraq tournament has significant differences with the number of national players in the previous camps. This time, Amir Qalanoui has decided to distance himself from a number of experienced stars and give more opportunities to younger players. A decision that comes with an interesting statistical calculation.
According to the list of absent players, 14 experienced Iranian football figures, including Alireza Biranvand, Seyed Hossein Hosseini, Milad Mohammadi, Ehsan Hajsafi, Ramin Rezaian, Hossein Kanaanizadegan, Roozbe Cheshmi, Shoja Khalilzadeh, Mehdi Torabi, Saman Qudous, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Mehdi Tarimi, Ali Alipour and Shahriar Mughanlou are not in the new list. The total age of these players reaches a significant number of 470 years; That is, the average age of this group of nationals is more than 33 years.
On the other hand, the new 29-member list of the national team has found a different composition with the presence of figures such as Mohammad Khalifa, Adib Zarei, Amin Hizbavi, Amir Mohammad Razzakinia, Ismail Qolizadeh, Afshin Sadeghi, Amir Hossein Farsi and Kasri Taheri. With these choices, Ghalenoui has shown that he intends to provide more opportunities for the evaluation of the young generation of Iranian football for the Iraq tournament.
Of course, the departure of this number of experienced players does not mean the definitive end of their presence in the national team, and the technical conditions, players’ preparation and the needs of the technical staff can change the equations in the next camps. However, the number of 470 years shows well the dimensions of the changes in the new list; A change that can be the beginning of a new season in the composition of the Iranian national football team.
Now it is to be seen how the invited young players will perform in the Iraqi tournament and whether they can use the opportunity to consolidate their position in the national team or not.
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