52 foreigners to play in their home away from home in Germany

Berlin, May 20: As the visiting teams converge here for next month's World Cup, it would be a homecoming of sort for 52 internationals from 23 squads who ply their trade in Germany.

While having these players in the ranks would help the teams get an idea about the grounds and the conditions here, it also guarantees them a warm reception as they start to arrive here.

In fact only nine teams, including Argentina, which rather surprisingly dropped Bayern Munich's Martin Demichelis, will arrive here without any German league player in their ranks.

Of all the teams, Switzerland have the largest contingent of players based in Germany and the ''Magnificient Seven'' includes Philipp Degen (Borussia Dortmund), Ludovic Magnin (Stuttgart), Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen), Christoph Spycher (Eintracht Frankfurt), Marco Streller and Ricardo Cabanas (both Cologne) and Raphael Wicky (Hamburg).

Five Bundesliga players - Tomas Rosicky, Jan Koller, David Jarolim, Jiri Stajner and Jan Polak - figure in Czech Republic squad, while Croatia have the same number in Ivan Klasnic, Josip Simunic, Marko Babic, Jurica Vranjes and Nico Kovac.

Iran's final 23 include Mehdi Mahdavikia, Ali Karimi, Vahid Hashemian, and Ferydoon Zandi, while world champions Brazil picked a quartet of German-based players in their quest for back-to-back titles.

Ze Roberto and Lucio won the German league and cup double with Bayern Munich this season while Gilberto is at Hertha Berlin and Juan at Bayer Leverkusen.

Paraguay squad includes Bayern team-mates Julio Dos Santos and Roque Santa Cruz, as well as Werder Bremen's Nelson Valdez.

Lower division players would also be seen in action in the June 9-July 9 showpiece event.

One such player is Australian Joshua Kennedy, a surprise inclusion in Guus Hiddink's final 23. After his stint with a relegated Dynamo Dresden, Kennedy will be lining up for Bundesliga outfit Nuremberg next season.

Meanwhile, Togo's German coach Otto Pfister also picked two players from the regional league -- Karim Guede (Hamburg's B team) and Assimou Toure (Bayer Leverkusen's B team).

UNI