Team Melli started a preparation camp in Doha from December 17. The team has so far played one friendly game against Palestine which ended with a 1-1 draw.

After some nine days of training and also considering the latest status of injured players, Queiroz announced the final 23-man squad for the major Asian event. Here is the squad:

Goalkeepers:

Alireza Beiranvand (Persepolis), Amir Abedzadeh (Maritimo), Payam Niazmand (Sepahan)

Defenders:

Ramin Rezaeian (Al-Shahania SC), Milad Mohammadi (Akhmat Grozny), Vouria Ghafouri (Esteghlal), Mohammadhossein Kananizadegan (Machine Sazi), Majid Hosseini (Trabzonspor), Ehsan Haji Safi (Tractor Sazi), Pejman Montazeri (Esteghlal), Morteza Pouraliganji (KAS Eupen)

Midfielders:

Omid Ebrahimi (Qatar’s Al Ahli), Ashkan Dejagah (Tractor Sazi), Rouzbeh Cheshmi (Esteghlal), Masoud Shojaei (Tractor Sazi), Ahmad Nourollahi (Persepolis), Vahid Amiri (Trabzonspor)

Strikers:

Mehdi Taremi (Al Gharafa), Sardar Azmoun (Rubin Kazan), Mehdi Torabi (Persepolis), Saman Ghoddos (Amiens), Alireza Jahanbakhsh (Brighton), Karim Ansarifard (Nottingham Forest)

Accordingly, Hossein Hosseini (Esteghlal), Ali Karimi (Esteghlal), Sadegh Moharrami (Dinamo Zagreb), Mohammadreza Khanzadeh (Qatar’s Al Ahli), Ali Alipour (Persepolis), Kaveh Rezaei (Club Brugge), Saeid Ezatolahi (Reading), and Ali Gholizadeh (Charleroi) were eliminated from Team Melli’s list, the latter two are suffering from injuries.

The team is slated to play another friendly match with Qatar on December 31 before departing for Abu Dhabi.

The event will kick off on January 5 with the match between the host, United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. Iran will meet Yemen on January 7 and Vietnam on January 12 before playing with Iraq on December 16. Queiroz’s men eye to claim the title for Iran after some 42 years.

Iran is most of the time atop the national squads of Asia in FIFA world rankings.

Earlier in last week, 2 renowned Iranian soccer players Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Alireza Beiranvand were named among the nominees for the Best Footballer in Asia 2018 by China's Fox Sports website.

Alireza Beiranvand had an impressive performance in the 2018 Russia World Cup, the peak of which was saving Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty in the match against Portugal. He also proved his quality in AFC Champions League with Persepolis, reaching the final of the event while having the highest number of clean sheets compared to other goalkeepers.

The Iranian winger Alireza Jahanbakhsh scored 21 goals for AZ Alkmaar in 2017–18 Eredivisie, becoming the first Asian player to become top scorer in a major European league. Some believe that he didn’t fulfill expectations in 2018 Russia World Cup while others maintain that his performance was mainly affected by the defensive style of Team Melli in World Cup, especially in matches against Spain and Portugal. Jahanbakhsh is now playing for Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion.