Iran have been dealt another huge blow ahead of Friday’s international friendly against Nigeria, as Team Melli will be without one of their key midfielders, Saeid Ezatolahi Afagh, who plays for Shabab Al Ahli in UAE Pro League.
Sports247 gathered that the defensive midfielder, who came up through Malavan’s youth academy and impressed from an early age, making his first team debut in 2012, has been ruled out of Friday’s game in Antalya, Turkey due to injury.
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It means the Eagles will not have to contend with a talented battler, who emerged as Iran Pro League’s youngest ever player at the age of 16, following which he also went home with the Iranian federation’s young player of the year award.
He became the youngest goal scorer in the history of the Iran national team at the age of 19 years and 42 days, after scoring in a 3-1 victory against Turkmenistan on November 12th, 2015 and previously played for Atlético Madrid C of Spain.
He has also featured for Rostov, Anzhi Makhachkala and Amkar Perm of Russia as well as Reading of England, but will not be there when Team Melli face Nigeria on Friday and then confront Costa Rica four days later at the same venue.
His absence revives memories of how he missed Iran’s first match of the 2018 World Cup against Morocco because of a red card in qualification, but he later played against Spain and Portugal.
A year later, he was ruled out of Iran’s squad for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup because of injury, which has seemingly recurred once again, as the Shabab Al Ahli midfield ace will not be there against Nigeria, after hurting a foot against Al Ain.
The upcoming matches against Nigeria and Costa Rica are part of Iran’s preparation for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, for which they have been drawn in Group G along with Belgium, New Zealand and Egypt.
