Daei praises national team performance

Daei also invited Saipa's goalkeeper Rahman Ahmadi and Mohammad Nosrati from Perspolis to join the country's national team on Friday.

Ahmadi replaced the Perspolis goalkeeper Mahdi Vaezi who was injured in Ardebil, where the national soccer team was having its latest camp, and Rahman Rezaei, who did not attend the camp, was replaced by Nosrati.

Iran's national soccer team managed to defeat Saipa 6-0 in a friendly match in the inauguration ceremony of the 20,000-seater Ali Daei stadium in Ardebil on Friday.

The Iranian team is slated to play a friendly against Zambia at Tehran's Azadi stadium on Sunday and will face the UAE in their World Cup qualifiers on June 2.

Iran is in Group 5 of the Asian World Cup qualifying tournament with Kuwait, Syria and the United Arab Emirates.