Moment of truth for France - Domenech

Raymond Domenech admits he is relieved to have Zinedine Zidane, Lilian Thuram and Chelsea midfielder Claude Makelele available for selection again but insists the “moment of truth” is looming for Les Bleus.

With France struggling to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, three-times FIFA World Player of the Year Zidane announced last week that he was coming out of his self-imposed retirement to help the cause.

The 33-year-old Real Madrid playmaker was joined the same day by Chelsea’s 32-year-old midfielder Makelele while later in the week 33-year-old Juventus defender Thuram also ended his international exile. All three players were duly named on Thursday in the squad for next Wednesday’s friendly with the Ivory Coast in Montpellier.

The trio ended their France careers after the disappointing Euro 2004 campaign in Portugal and therefore will be playing under Domenech for the first time in the senior team.

Domenech told a press conference at the headquarters of the French Football Federation that it had taken considerable effort on his part to bring the trio back into the fold.

He said: “I am very happy to see them back in the national colours – I have done everything I can for a year to get to this point.”

The Ivory Coast match is a friendly but Domenech is already thinking of a World Cup campaign with France fourth in Group 4 of the European zone behind the Republic of Ireland, Switzerland and Israel.

Domenech said: “Our objective is to qualify for the World Cup and to do that we need the best possible team.”

Joking, he added: “I can only be happy that we have had a very successful transfer market during the close season.”

Domenech insisted he had faith in the existing squad, saying: “We still have good hopes of qualifying even without the three players.

“I have three players who I will now add to the French team and now we have five matches or it could be more if we have to go through the play-offs.

“This will be the moment of truth for the France team.”

Apart from the returning trio, two of whom (Zidane and Thuram) were mainstays of the France team that won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000, the squad is mainly notable for the inclusion of striker David Trezeguet despite an ankle injury.

Domenech dismissed any worries that the Juventus forward might not be fit, saying: “He is part of the squad and operational.”

Looking forward to the Ivory Coast game at the Stade Mosson, Domenech said he was not taking the showdown with the Elephants lightly.

Domenech said: “The August match is normally a bit of a start-of-term thing but this time it’s important because we have to drum it into the players that they will be battling for survival (in the World Cup qualifiers later this Autumn).”