TEHRAN – Former Iran and Persepolis football team midfielder Farzad Ashoubi says that Team Melli will have a difficult task ahead in the 2023 AFC Asian Cup since they lacked of good warm-up games.

Iran national football team are drawn in Group C along with the UAE, Hong Kong and Palestine and will be hoping for a turnaround in fortunes in Qatar.

Iran have not won the title since 1976.

“In my opinion, Team Melli have not been tested yet since they have not faced a strong opponent in their warm-up matches. Iran’s group are easy and they will most likely qualify for the next round but there will be tough task ahead of them in the next staged.

“The team benefit of experienced players but that's not enough to succeed as we know that there are strong teams like Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia,” he said in his exclusive interview with Tehran Times.

The experts hit out at Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei for not inviting the younger players as Team Melli are a team with high average age.

“I believe that Ghalenoei could call up the young players like Amin Hazbavi and Mohammadjavad Hosseinnejhad but we have to respect his selection. The young stars like Hazbavi can improve the quality of every team,” he said.

“Iran football can stand on its own feet but the Federation has established the rules which hinder infrastructure progress,” the ex-Persepolis midfielder added.

“As long as we don’t perform what other countries are doing, we cannot be optimistic about the future. The federation should seriously consider caring age groups football if it wants to have a strong national team in the future,” Ashoubi concluded.