5/14/2005
the-afc.com

SPIEZ, Switzerland: Iran’s preparations for next month’s World Cup suffered a big blow when playmaker Mojtaba Jabbari suffered a knee injury during a training session here and was ruled out of the squad.

The 23-year-old midfielder, who struts his stuff for Iran Pro League champions Esteghlal, will need to undergo surgery in Tehran.

Meanwhile, the national team won two practice games against amateur club sides here. Half of the players are still missing from the camp due to club commitments or injuries.

They beat FC Lyss 2-1 but showed an improved performance to blank FC Spiez 5-0 in the second game. Mehrzad Madanchi, Sattar Zare, Javad Kazemian (two) and striker Arash Borhani were on target for Iran in the second game.

Iran will have a ten-day training camp in Croatia and will play

friendlies against Croatia (Osijek, May 28) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (Tehran, May 31) before travelling to Germany on June 5, six days before their World Cup opener against Mexico in Nuremberg. Also in Group D are Portugal and Angola.