12/12/2008
Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

Karim Bagheri’s name was one of the more noticeable absentees on the preliminary 28 man list from which coach Ali Daei will pick 22 for the Oman tournament.

The veteran midfielder told reporters that he was dropped from the request at his own request!

“I needed some time to rest and recover from some minor knocks, so I asked the coach if I could be excused from participating in the Oman tournament, and the coach agreed. That is the only reason my name is not on the list”, said Bagheri. “I don’t mean to dictate my opinion to the coaching staff, but I think this is a good opportunity for the younger plays to be tested as the potential building blocks of the team.”

“Should the coaching staff decide to recall me in the future, I’ll be more than happy to help the team in their attempt to qualify for the World Cup”, continued the veteran.

The 28 man list is as follows:

Goalkeepers: Mehdi Rahmati, Vahid Taleblou, Rahman Ahmadi

Defenders: Seyed Jalal Hosseini, Pirouz Ghorbani, Pejman Montazeri, Hossein Kaebi, Majid Gholamnejad, Sattar Zareh, Pejman Nouri, Gholamreza Rezaei, Mohsen Bengar, Adel Kolahkaj, Hasan Ashjari

Midfielders: Kianoush Rahmati, Maziar Zareh, Ehsan Hajsafi, Reza Khalatbari, Mohamad Nouri, Maysam Baou, Hanif Omranzadeh, Ahmad Jamshidian.

Strikers: Arash Borhani, Mohammad Mehdi Seyed Salehi, Jalal Rafkhaei, Gholamreza Rezaei, Reza khaleghifar, Iman Heidari.