Josh Kennedy was already looking forward to a few of the most exciting months of his life - a wedding, a honeymoon, then a return to the top flight of German soccer.

Now something else has been thrown into the mix - the small matter of the World Cup.

The towering striker from Wodonga in country Victoria is the "wild card" in Socceroos coach Guus Hiddink's 23-man Germany-bound squad announced on Wednesday.

As a result his wedding to Australian Opals basketball star Jacinta Hamilton - fortunately scheduled for Melbourne at the end of this month - looks like sharing top billing with Australia's warmup match against Greece at the MCG on May 25.

And his honeymoon looks like being either one of the shortest on record, or put on hold until after the World Cup.

"He's going to have a big couple of months," said his Melbourne-based manager John Grimaud.

"He's a fantastic boy.

"He's done it hard, but at last he's going to start being rewarded."

Kennedy, 23, is a 194cm giant renowned for his heading ability and strength in the air.

"Guus wanted something in the squad totally different to what we've got," explained assistant coach Graham Arnold.

"He gives totally different options to our style of game."

"He has always talked about us being more adaptable in our style, and Josh will bring that."

Kennedy represented Australia at under-17 and under-20 level before heading overseas to make his name in Germany.

At the age of 18 he became the youngest Australian to play in Germany's first division.

He spent a couple of years on loan in lower divisions, returned to the top flight in 2003-04, then became a regular at second division Dynamo Dresden.

He is due to return to the top-flight Bundesliga next season with Nuremberg.

"He offers a point of difference for the Australian team," said Grimaud.

"People often say players like Mark Viduka are strong in the air, but I can tell you none of them are a patch on Josh.

"He's a great header of the ball.

"He brings something different.

"If the Socceroos are struggling, if they run out of ideas, they could do worse than just knock long balls up to Josh."

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