Iran's youngsters impress captain Mahdavikia

Gulfnews - Iran superstar Mehdi Mahdavikia was impressed with the young side his country put out against his club side Hamburg.

The national team captain, who has won 96 caps, saw the Bundesliga outfit beat Amir Ghalenoi's experimental Iranian team 2-1, but he had words of praise for his countrymen.

Analysing players picked only from Iran's domestic league, Mahdavikia said: "You've got to remember the background of these players."

"This is not Iran's first team but the second team.

"It's hard to immediately make the step-up from a domestic league to taking on experienced players like we have at Hamburg, but in the second half the youngsters played very well.

"They were a very young team with little experience outside of Iran so you've got to look at their potential and ability and they have that in abundance.

"The future is definitely bright for Iran but these players and us senior players must continue to work hard and improve so the team gets better."

And, perhaps with some of the new players forcing their way into the squad, Mahdavikia targeted success in July's Asian Cup.

He added: "The most important thing is that we succeed as a team and I hope in the summer we will be Asian Cup champions. That's our aim."