IRI's football team leaves for japan

IRIB - IRI's football team departed here Saturday for Tokyo to get ready for 2006 World Cup Asian zone Group B qualifier against Japan.

The Iranian squad, which arrived in Kuala Lumpur last Tuesday to take on Saudi Arabia in a friendly, left the capital without playing.

The friendly was rescheduled and then canceled as the choking haze caused by forest fires in Sumatra blanketed Kuala Lumpur and surrounding areas and reached hazardous levels in some regions.

Under Croat manager Branko Ivankovic, the Asian powerhouse Iran trained during its four-day stay in Kuala Lumpur.

The internationals are to join Iran in Tokyo.

Japan entertains Iran on August 17. The two sides have already won tickets to Germany, where the most prestigious sporting event, World Cup, will be held.

According to the Football Federation, the players and officials, who headed for Tokyo are:

Players
1. Ebrahim Mirzapour
2. Seyed Mehdi Rahmati
3. Vahid Taleblou
4. Yahya Golmohammadi
5. Mohammad Nosrati
6. Jalal Kameli-Mofrad
7. Hadi Shakouri
8. Hossein Ka'bi
9. Meysam Maniei
10. Seyed Mohammad Alavi
11. Javad Nekounam
12. Iman Mob'ali
13. Javad Kazemian
14. Arash Borhani
15. Mehdi Rajabzadeh
16. Alireza Vahedi-Nikbakht
17. Andranik Teymourian
18. Mojtaba Jabbari
19. Edmond Bezik
20. Ali Daei
Officials
Manager: Branko Ivankovic
Coach: Hossein Faraki
Goalkeeping coaches: Fakhreddin Begovic, Ahmad Sajjadi
Head: Nasser No-Amouz