Even though the five star IFF has yet to officially announce the remaining TM friendly games in preparation for WC2018, Saket revealed the list without mentioning the venues during the debate with Ali Karimi on Navad program on Monday.
Despite earlier talks of playing a big team (such as Italy, Netherlands, Brazil) Iran will play Greece. It is still unclear whether this game will be TM farewell game in Azadi before leaving to Russia.
In addition, Iran was supposed to play a friendly match against a WC qualified team in Russia, instead Iran will play Lithuania.
Overall, Iran will play two friendlies against two Asian teams that we met during the qualification: Syria and Uzbekistan. It still remains to be seen if the domestic players would be released from their clubs in a timely manner to play these two games which are supposedly scheduled specifically for their preparation.
We will also play three North African teams: Libya, Tunisia and Algeria to prepare for the game against Morocco.
In addition we will play two Balkan teams: Greece and Turkey, bringing the total number of teams from Mediterranean region to six. These two friendly could be viewed as preparation for the game against Portugal.
And lastly we play the low ranking Lithuania, a Baltic state from the North-Eastern Europe for a light last friendly before the official games begin to build confidence and tweak tactics.
Here is the list with some additional dates that are noteworthy:
(4-29 March/13 Esfand-9 Farvardin: IPL Break)
(11 March/20 Esfand : Belgian First Division A Regular Season Final Week - Play-Off Round To Follow)
(12-13 March/21-22 Esfand: AFC Club Championship Week#4)
17 March/26 Esfand: Iran vs. Libya in Tehran (most likely with domestic TM players)
(19-27 March/28 Esfand-7 Farvardin : FIFA days)
22 March/2 Farvardin: Iran vs. Tunisia potentially in Tunisia (Austria and Tehran are also possibilities)
27 March/7 Farvardin: Iran vs. Algeria in Austria
(7 April/18 Farvardin: Qatar Stars League Final Week - Emir and Crown Prince Cups To Follow)
(27 April/7 Ordibehesht: IPL Final Week)
(2 May/12 Ordibehesht: Elimination Cup Final)
(5 May/15 Ordibehesht: England League One Regular Season Final Week)
(6 May/16 Ordibehesht: England Championship League Regular Season Final Week)
(6 May/16 Ordibehesht: Netherlands Erdivisie Regular Season Final Week - EU qualification Play Off To Follow)
(6 May/16 Ordibehesht: Greece Super League Regular Season Final Week)
(7-9 May/17-19 Ordibehesht: AFC Club Championship RD16 First Leg)
11 May/21 Ordibehesht: Iran vs. Syria potentially in Tehran (most likely with domestic TM players)
(13 May/23 Ordibehesht: Russian Premier League Regular Season Final Week)
(13 May/23 Ordibehesht: Portugal Primeria Liga Regular Season Final Week)
(14 May/24 Ordibehesht: Initial 35 TM Players List Submission Deadline)
(14-16 May/24-26 Ordibehesht: AFC Club Championship RD16 Return Leg)
18 May/28 Ordibehesht: Iran vs. Uzbekistan potentially in Tehran (most likely with domestic TM players)
28 May/7 Khordad: Iran vs. Turkey in Turkey
(1 June/11 Khordad: All Clubs Are Obligated to Release National Players To Their Respective National Teams By This Date At The Latest)
2 June/12 Khordad: Iran vs. Greece potentially in Greece (Tehran, Russia, Austria, Turkey are also possibilities)
(4 June/14 Khordad: Final 23 TM Players List Submission Deadline)
8 June/18 Khordad: Iran vs. Lithuania in Russia
(14 June/24 Khordad: World Cup 2018 Starts in Russia)
15 June/25 Khordad: Iran vs. Morocco in Saint-Petersburg
20 June/30 Khordad: Iran vs. Spain in Kazan
25 June/4 Tir: Iran vs. Portugal in Saransk, Mordovia
(30 June/9 Tir: Play-Offs Begin)
(15 July/24 Tir: WC Final)