Ivory Coast head coach Uli Stielike has made an audacious attempt to persuade striker Salomon Kalou to commit his international future to the country by naming the Chelsea forward in a 24-man squad for their international friendly against Sweden on November 15.

The German coach, who will be taking charge of his second match for Ivory Coast in the game in Le Mans, France, has named 24 players on Tuesday including Salomon Kalou, who has never featured for Ivory Coast.

The Ivory Coast Football Federation (The Fédération Ivoirienne de Football) have made no secret of their desire to persuade Salomon Kalou, brother of the Côte d'Ivoire captain Bonaventure Kalou, to join their ranks.

But Kalou, even though he was born in the Côte d'Ivoire, has been trying to obtain Dutch citizenship for some time, with Kalou having failed in his hopes of playing for his adopted country, Holland, in the World Cup Finals.

Even the support of Holland coach and ex-Ajax and AC Milan striker Marco van Basten in the appeal for the 20-year-old to play for the Oranje, wasn't enough for Kalou’s attempts to have the previously refused applications rejected.

Van Basten gave his support to the striker after he invited Kalou to join the Netherlands' World Cup team in Germany this summer, but his appeal was thrown out by Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk in May after falling nearly two years short of the five years’ residence required. (see: ch-citizenship-for-second-time-time-running-out-to-make-van-bastens-holland-squad.html...)

Now the West Africans have renewed their efforts to get him to play for his country of birth.

His older brother Bonaventure has been restored to the squad after being dropped for the 5-0 win over Gabon - Stielike’s first game in charge - in a qualifier for the African Nations Cup earlier this month.

Ivory Coast squad for Sweden match:

Goalkeepers: Boubacar Barry (Beveren), Gerard Gnanhouan (Montpellier), Stephen Loboue (Greuther Furth);

Defenders: Mamadou Doumbia (Istres, Emerse Fae (Nantes), Seydou Kante (Beveren), Abdoulaye Meite (Bolton Wanderers), Kolo Toure (Arsenal);

Midfielders: Kanga Akale (AJ Auxerre), Steve Gohouri (Young Boys Berne), Bonaventure Kalou (Paris St Germain), Gilles Yapi Yapo (Young Boys Berne), Gneri Yaya Toure (Monaco), Didier Zokora (Tottenham Hotspur)

Strikers: Amara Diane (Paris St Germain), Aruna Dindane (Racing Lens), Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Salomon Kalou (Chelsea), Abdelkader Keita (Lille), Arouna Kone (PSV Eindhoven), Bakary Kone (Nice), Christian Koffi Ndri (Le Mans), Boubacar Sanogo (Hamburg SV), Kandia Traore (Le Havre).

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