Berlin, Jun 13: If things had worked out differently, Germany would have drawn 2-2 with Costa Rica and Mexico may well have ended level with Iran.

As for Tunisia, they may not have been here at all.

The reason? All have turned to a foreign imports to boost their title dreams.

Polish-born Miroslav Klose grabbed two goals in Germany's 4-2 opening win while Brazilian-born Zinha came off the bench to turn a 1-1 halftime scoreline into a 3-1 triumph for Mexico.

Tunisia handed a passport to Santos, also born in Brazil, and the scorer has repaid that faith leading the north Africans to the Nations Cup in 2004 as well as bagging the bulk of the goals in the World Cup qualifiers.

Germany manager Jurg-en Klinsmann admitted his country were fortunate to have Polish-born forwards Klose and Lukas Podolski.

"We are happy with the Polish players as they are of a high quality," said Klinsmann whose side face Poland tomorrow.

"It is a special moment for them as they have family ties.

Playing against their homeland could motivate 'Miro' and Lukas even more." The 28-year-old Klose's father played for Auxerre in France, but only when his parents moved from Poland to Germany when he was nine did he start to carve out a love of the game.

The 20-yr-old Podolski, born in Gliwice, admits to having close ties to Poland but says his loyalties lie with Germany.

"I feel like I have two homelands.

I hope Poland get through the group but by finishing behind Germany," Bayern Munich's Podolski said.

German Player of the Year Klose, who was born in Opole, and plays at Werder Bremen, has admitted that the duo even speak in Polish on the pitch.

Antonio Naelson Matiasar, better known as Zinha, was born in Sao Paulo, but is now a naturalised Mexican.

On Sunday, with his team locked at 1-1 with Iran, he came off the bench to score one goal and create another for Omar Bravo.

Zinha played in the second division in Mexico before gaining recognition as a midfield dynamo with Toluca in 1999.He played in 12 of the qualification matc-hes, scoring three goals.

Mexico coach Ricardo Lavolpe said his substitutions, replacing both strikers Jared Borgetti and Guillermo Franco, and bringing on Jose Fonseca and Zinha, did the trick.

"I think the subsitutions were perfect and the team was better, more ordered on the field and better organised," he said.

Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago midfielder Chris Birchall has mixed emotions about facing England on Thursday he was born in the pottery-making town of Stafford in the English Midlands.

Birchall is the first white player to represent the Caribbean side for 60 years as well as the first Port Vale player to appear in the finals.

"If I score against England, I won't celebrate," said Birchall, whose appearance at the finals started out at a fixture in the 3rd tier of English football between Vale and Wrexham last year.

Wrexham's Trinidad defender Dennis Lawrence sidled up to Birchall and asked him where his mother was born.

"Port of Spain, Trinidad," a puzzled Birchall replied and the rest is history.

27-year-old Santos has also crossed continents to make the international grade and he has become one of Africa's top marksmen even bagging four goals in the same World Cup qualifier against Malawi which helped Tunisia to the finals.

Arriving in Europe aged 16, he started out with Standard Liege in Belgium but eventually signed for Etoile Sahel and became a prolific scorer with 32 goals in 50 matches.

"Santos is one of the most natural goalscorers I have come across," said Fernandez, who subsequently took Santos with him to French outfit Sochaux where the Brazilian scored 21 goals to gain them promotion.

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