ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) 鈥� a 26-man squad on Monday to play in the United States including 17 home-based players whose clubs have not played since February due to the .
Star forward Mehdi Taremi, who plays in Greece for Olympiakos, was among nine overseas players but they did not include his strike partner at the 2022 World Cup, .
Azmoun was dropped from coach Amir Ghalenoei鈥檚 squad in March, reportedly because of a social media post that angered Iranian authorities during the ongoing with the United States and Israel. His teammate at Dubai club Shabab Al-Ahli, Saeid Ezatolahi, was picked.
Iran features five players with clubs in the United Arab Emirates, two in Belgium, Taremi in Greece and one in Russia. Belgium-based Dennis Dargahi on the official squad list is known as Dennis Eckert Ayensa at his club Standard Liege.
Iran is preparing for the World Cup at a training camp in Antalya, Turkey, before a scheduled departure on Friday to its tournament base in Tijuana, Mexico.
Citing complexities with visa issues to enter the U.S., 10 days ago to move from a planned training base in Tucson, Arizona.
Iran plays two games in World Cup Group G in Inglewood, California 鈥� against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium six days later 鈥� then goes to Seattle to face Egypt on June 26.
Iran and the U.S. could meet in the round of 32 on July 3 at the Dallas Cowboys鈥� stadium in Arlington, Texas, if both place second in their groups.
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Iran:
Goalkeepers: Alireza Beiranvand (Tractor), Hossein Hosseini (Sepahan), Payam Niazmand (Persepolis)
Defenders: Danial Eiri (Malavan), Ehsan Hajsafi (Sepahan), Saleh Hardani (Esteghlal), Hossein Kanaani (Persepolis), Shoja Khalilzadeh (Tractor), Milad Mohammadi (Persepolis), Ali Nemati (Foolad), Ramin Rezaeian (Foolad)
Midfielders: Rouzbeh Cheshmi (Esteghlal), Saeid Ezatolahi (Shabab Al-Ahli), Mehdi Ghayedi (Al-Nasr), Saman Ghoddos (Kalba), Mohammad Ghorbani (Al-Wahda), Alireza Jahanbakhsh (Dender), Mohammad Mohebi (Rostov), Amir Mohammad Razzaghinia (Esteghlal), Mehdi Torabi (Tractor), Aria Yousefi (Sepahan)
Forwards: Ali Alipour (Persepolis), Dennis Dargahi (Standard Liege), Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh (Tractor), Mehdi Taremi (Olympiakos), Shahriar Moghanlou (Kalba)
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