It has been 44 long years since Iran U-23 football team appeared in an Olympic Games football tournament, but a squad packed with seasoned professionals suggest Islamic Republic of Iran’s future appears a much more interesting story than its past.
While it is sure to be tested in one of the tournament’s most difficult groups, Hamid Estili’s charges appear more than capable of providing goals, the-afc.com reported.
Winger Mohammed Mohebbi scored two of them for the senior national team against Cambodia last October, Mehdi Ghaedi arrives in Thailand after scoring eight in the first half of the season for Esteghlal, and Reza Shekari found the net three times at the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Also present is 18-year-old wonderkid Allahyar Sayyadmanesh, who became Iran’s youngest ever senior international goal scorer last June, finding the net against Syria just a month after being snapped by Turkish giant Fenerbahce.