Thuram the latest to answer call of country

FRANCE’S hopes of making the 2006 World Cup finals received a further boost yesterday when defender Lilian Thuram confirmed he would make his international comeback.

“Yes, I’m coming back”, said Thuram, who is expected to return in a friendly against Ivory Coast in Montpellier on August 17.

The 33-year-old Juventus defender had announced his international retirement just over 12 months ago after France’s quarter-final defeat by eventual winners Greece at Euro 2004.

“(France coach) Raymond Domenech will select me for the match against Ivory Coast and I will go,” Thuram said in a statement.

Thuram announced his decision four days after midfielders Zinedine Zidane and Claude Makelele said they would play for France again.

Domenech said Zidane would take over the captain’s armband from new Juventus signing Patrick Vieira.

Thuram said he had hesitated before deciding to come back after being invited to do so by Domenech.

“I must admit I was I was a bit upset when I received the invitation but then I tried to understand,” Thuram said.

Meanwhile, Olympique Lyon’s Michael Essien, who is being chased by Chelsea, was left out of the French champions’ team for a league match yesterday. Lyon coach Gerard Houllier said on Saturday he did not pick Essien for a home game against Racing Strasbourg but denied British media reports that the Ghana midfielder was on strike.

“Michael has a good attitude,” the former Liverpool manager said.

“Maybe he’s on a hunger strike, like I’ve read in the press, but he’s not on strike when it comes to training. I am not selecting him because his mind is not set on football,” Houllier added.

“I believe that he is not ready to play a match and will not be for as long has his case is not settled.”

Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has given the English Premier League champions two more days to make a suitable offer. Norway striker John Carew scored the game’s only goal in a 1-0 victory for Lyon.

Nantes, who scored an impressive 3-0 away win over Stade Rennes in a western derby earlier on Sunday, top the table on goal difference, followed by PSG, Bordeaux and Lyon.

In Germany, two goals in three hectic minutes helped title hopefuls Schalke 04 to a sensational 2-1 comeback win over Kaiserslautern yesterday. With 11 minutes to go, visitors Kaiserslautern led 1-0 thanks to a 33th minute header from Turkish marksman Halil Altintop, whose twin brother Hamit was playing for Schalke, but there was a twist in the tale.

In the 75th minute Danish international Soren Larsen came on for his Schalke debut and it proved one to remember as the substitute equalised four minutes later.

The majority of the 61,000 fans at the Arena Auf Schalke rejoiced a rescued point and were then in a state of delirium as Serbia and Montenegro defender Mladen Krstajic scored three minutes later.

The win sees Schalke climb to fifth - an improvement on last season when they were in the bottom three for the first four games.

Bayer Leverkusen also got their new season off to a winning start crushing promoted Eintracht Frankfurt 4-1.

Aleksandar Vasoski put hosts Frankfurt ahead after seven minutes but Bulgarian international Dimitar Berbatov equalised in the 24th minute and Leverkusen took control.

Andrei Voronin (48), Bernd Schneider (56) and Jacek Krzynowek (59) destroyed Frankfurt in a devastating 11 minutes.

Werder Bremen beat Arminia Bielefeld 5-2 with two goals each from Germany striker Miroslav Klose and Croatian Ivan Klasnic in a high-scoring opening round of the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Klose scrambled a goal in the opening minute of an entertaining match in which Bielefeld equalised twice through Nebosja Krupnikovic and Sibusiso Zuma before late strikes from Klose and Klasnic sent Bremen to the top of the table.

The result put Bremen ahead of champions Bayern Munich who beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-0 on Friday.

VfB Stuttgart’s new Italian coach, former Bayern Munich trainer Giovanni Trapattoni, had to be content with a 1-1 draw with MSV Duisburg on his return to the German league.

Hamburg SV, boosted by new signing Rafael van der Vaart, beat Nuremberg 3-0, Hanover 96 and Hertha Berlin fought out a 2-2 draw, the same result reached by VfL Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund.

The latter game was notable for the debut of Dortmund’s 16-year-old Nuri Sahin, the youngest player in the Bundesliga’s history.