Iran , who are in the same World Cup group alongside Nigeria, Argentina and Bosnia Herzegovina, have named a 28 - man squad list comprised of local players playing in the domestic championship and Asia based professionals ahead of the mundial in Brazil.

An analysis of the roster released on Saturday revealed that 3 goalkeepers, 12 defenders, 8 midfielders and 5 attackers were picked by manager Carlos Queiroz.

It is very surprising that the Portuguese gaffer did not include one of the poster boys of Asian football, Ali Karimi plus experienced attacking midfielder Mohammad Nouri in the roster.

On Monday, the players will leave Iran for a training camp in South Africa, where they are scheduled to play tune up games against some local teams and the Mozambique National Team.

The professional players based in Europe will join the squad at their training camp in Austria next month.

Iran Provisional Squad

Goalkeepers:
Rahman Ahmadi – Sepahan Esfahan
Sousha Makani – Foolad Khuzestan
Hamed Lak – Tractor Sazi Tabriz

Defenders:
Khosro Heydari – Esteghlal Tehran
Hossein Mahini – Persepolis Tehran
Pejman Montazeri – Umm Salal, QAT
Jalal Hosseini – Persepolis Tehran
Amir-Hossein Sadeghi – Esteghlal Tehran
Shoja Khalilzadeh – Sepahan Esfahan
Mohammad-Reza Khanzadeh – Zob Ahan Esfahan
Ahmad Alenemeh – Naft Tehran
Hashem Beikzadeh – Esteghlal Tehran
Ehsan Hajsafi – Sepahan Esfahan
Mehrdad Pouladi – Persepolis Tehran
Mehrdad Jamaati – Foolad Khhuzestan

Midfielders:
Javad Nekounam – Kuwait SC, KUW
Andranik Teymourian – Esteghlal Tehran
Reza Haghighi – Persepolis Tehran
Omid Ebrahimi – Sepahan Esfahan
Ghasem Hadadifar – Zob Ahan Esfahan
Bakhtiar Rahmani – Foolad Khuzestan
Payam Sadeghian – Persepolis Tehran
Mohsen Mosalman – Persepolis Tehran

Strikers:
Mohammad-Reza Khalatbari – Persepolis Tehran
Mehdi Sharifi – Sepahan Esfahan
Karim Ansarifard – Tractor Sazi Tabriz
Reza Norouzi – Naft Tehran
Yaghoub Karimi – Sepahan Esfahan