Iran Gears Up For World Cup Opener

FNA- Iran held two training sessions on Friday, as the team prepares itself for Wednesday's opening World Cup qualifier with Syria in Tehran.

In the training sessions, the national team coaches concentrated on attacking moves more than usual, as they have circled that area to be the weakest in the team.

Nikbakht Vahedi is the only injury worry for Iran, and he is facing a race against time as he tries to recover from an injury he suffered in Iran's friendly draw against Costa Rica two days ago.

Maziar Zare and Meydavoudi also missed the training sessions on Friday, but both are expected to be available for selection against Syria.

While Zare was missing the training due to a heavy cold, Meydavoudi was in UAE to finalize a move to Al Ahli.

After the training session, Iran's caretaker coach Mansour Ebrahimzadeh told reporters, "We missed several goal scoring chances in our last game against Costa Rica, and we are working on finding a solution for this problem. We have some of the best goal scorers in the UAE and Iran leagues, and we expect these players to make the most of their chances."

Ebrahimzadeh added, "The newly appointed coach of Iran, Javier Clemente, will arrive in Tehran on Saturday evening, and he will visit the camp on Sunday. We will then have a meeting on Monday to discuss the current status of the Iranian national team."