S Africa takes training in Germany

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World Cup hosts South Africa arrived in Germany on Tuesday for a two-week training camp in Herzogenaurach for their preparations for the 2010 soccer spree.

Head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira named a 25-man squad for the camp, which will run until April 30 and features none of the Bafana Bafana's foreign-based players except for Ajax youngster Daylon Claassen.

"The Germany camp is getting closer to the World Cup, so we have to show some improvements as a team, we can't afford any regression, and as a result we have to improve further from our previous gains," Parreira said at a press conference in Johannesburg prior to departing for Germany.

The South Africans arrived in Germany just a week after finishing a month-long training camp in Brazil, the highpoint of which was a 1-1 draw against World Cup qualifiers Paraguay on March 31.

The other two friendlies in the 2010 calendar year to date saw the Bafana Bafana draw 1-1 against Namibia in Durban on March 3, after having beaten Zimbabwe 3-0 in Durban on January 27.

The highlight of the German camp will be a friendly against China scheduled for April 28.

Parreira dropped five players from the squad at the Brazilian camp, which was the first part of his preparations for locally based players.

The most high-profile player recalled by the Brazilian coach was striker 32-year-old Siyabonga Nomvete.

South Africa will kick off the tournament on June 11 with the opening match against Mexico. Drawn in Group A, South Africa will also face Uruguay on June 16 and France on June 22.

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