Soccer: World champions France sketch out squad

TIGNES - France coach Roger Lemerre has sketched out his plans for the World Cup champions after calling up 13 more players to a training camp next week.

Striker Nicolas Anelka, on loan at Liverpool this season, will miss the finals again after being left out in 1998.

The secretive Lemerre has not formally announced the squad to travel to Japan and South Korea at the end of the month, but the 13 have been added to eight players currently preparing at altitude in the French Alps.

The party will be completed by Real Madrid's Zinedine Zidane and Claude Makelele who are certain to be named in the final squad. Both are on club duty ahead of the Champions League final against Bayer Leverkusen in Glasgow next week.

Zidane will not take part in the friendly against Belgium at the Stade de France on May 18 as his wife is about to give birth to their third child.

The list of 23 has circulated in the French media for more than a week after the players who had been told by Lemerre they were surplus to requirements talked to journalists.

Lemerre has said that Anelka failed to hold down a regular first team place at the English premier league club he joined from Paris St Germain midway through the season.

Anelka has been replaced in the squad by in-form AJ Auxerre striker Djibril Cisse, the leading scorer in the French first division this season with 22 goals.

"I refuse to make any comparison between Cisse and Anelka," Lemerre said. "I came to this decision step by step. It's something I have spent a lot of time to think about."

"It's a very tough decision to take as Nicolas is very close to the team, much more than Cisse is for the time being.

"I only wish he is going to bounce back and regain his place in the squad. But at the moment, he is obviously not part of it."

Asked if he could have made a mistake by leaving Anelka aside, Lemerre said he may face some questions about the decision.

"With Anelka I knew what I could rely on," Lemerre said. "With Cisse, it's impossible to say what he is going to bring to this team. But I don't think I've taken a risk. It's more like uncertainty."

Fulham striker Steve Marlet also failed to make the final squad despite a good performance in the 5-0 trashing of Scotland in Paris in March.

Lemerre has kept faith with Arsenal forward Sylvain Wiltord who scored an injury-time equaliser against Italy in the final of the 2000 European championship.

Veteran midfielder Alain Boghossian, who missed France's Euro 2000 triumph through injury, returns while injured Olympiakos midfielder Christian Karembeu is left out.

Parma's Boghossian helped France clinch their first World Cup title before a string of injuries left him sidelined for more than a year. Team mate Johan Micoud, back from injury, has also won a place despite a poor season with the Italian side.

Probable squad:

Goalkeepers: Fabien Barthez (Manchester United), Gregory Coupet (Olympique Lyon), Ulrich Rame (Girondins Bordeaux)

Defenders: Vincent Candela (Roma), Philippe Christanval (Barcelona), Marcel Desailly (Chelsea), Christophe Dugarry (Girondins Bordeaux), Frank Leboeuf (Olympique Marseille), Bixente Lizarazu (Bayern Munich), Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich), Mickael Silvestre (Manchester United), Lilian Thuram (Juventus)

Midfield: Alain Boghossian (Parma), Claude Makelele (Real Madrid), Johan Micoud (Parma), Emmanuel Petit (Chelsea), Patrick Vieira (Arsenal), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid)

Strikers: Djibril Cisse (AJ Auxerre), Youri Djorkaeff (Bolton Wanderers), Thierry Henry (Arsenal), David Trezeguet (Juventus), Sylvain Wiltord (Arsenal).