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David Trezeguet Not Included In France Squad For International Friendly Game Against Costa Rica

Submitted by Pavlos Skoufis on Mon, 07/11/2005 - 20:45.

The 28-year-old Juventus striker was excluded from the team as he suffers from injury and French officials were waiting to the last moment to see if there are any chances of playing. France will have to do without him for the Costa Rica friendly in Martinique. The game is a fundraising event for the families of those who died when a Colombian airliner crashed in Venezuela.

According to a source from the French Football Association, Trezeguet will be included for the squad to face off Germany on Wednesday's international friendly between France and Germany at Stade de France.

The last time Trezeguet played for France was on the 3-0 victory over the Ivory Coast on the 17th of August. He lost the last four international matches due to suspension and a thigh injury.

In other France team news, Coach Raymond Domenech tried to address some of the fans criticism for playing a game in Costa Rica just a few days before the Germany match by saying that the team needs the preparation in order to be competitive for next year's World Cup.

"We need games to prepare for the World Cup. After the match against Costa Rica, we take on Germany and there will be a last outing against Slovakia in March and that will be all. Players need to spend time together to learn playing with each other, and time is what we don't have much of." Domenech told reporters.

"We will be travelling first class. It's really comfortable. The guys will have all the room they need to sleep and rest during the flight" he added.

French clubs agreed to release their international players for the game, which was arranged to commemorate the 160 people who died when a Colombian jet crashed in Venezuela.

Olympique Lyon manager Gerard Houllier was very critical for the French Football Association by saying that "We will let them go because players deserve it and because we won't go against the French soccer governing body. But this case was handled in a deplorable way and without any consideration for the clubs. I don't want to see something like this happen again."

Trying to address the manager concerns, Domenech said that he could have given a more advanced notice to clubs, but it would be disrespectful against Costa Rica if the announcement went public earlier.

Arsenal Coach Arsene Wenger has urged Domenech not to include the team's star striker Thierry Henry and leave him to rest as he just recovered from injury. "It would be very dangerous for him to play 90 minutes."