France's Les Bleus coach Raymond Domenech has named a 20-man squad for their World Cup warm-up match against Slovakia at the Stade de France on March 1.

Manchester United striker Louis Saha, and Roma defender Phillipe Mexes have both earned a recall to the France national team for the friendly against Slovakia on March 1st.

It has been over a year since Louis Saha was last called up for Les Bleus, but after being mostly injured since joining Manchester United a couple of seasons ago, Saha has been scoring freely his club, in the mostly cup games that he has started.

Maybe the biggest surprise is the exclusion of rising star Frank Ribery, who has impressed with his domestic and UEFA cup performances for Olympique Marseille, with Lyon defender François Clerc getting a surprise call-up in his place.

Roma defender Philippe Mexes also returns to Domenech’s squad.
Mexes had been out of the France squad since 2003, after his controversial transfer to Italian Serie A side Roma and his subsequent dip in form, but has been instrumental in Roma's equalling of the Serie A record of ten consecutive wins this season, with the derby against Lazio this coming weekend being the chance for Roma to break that record.

It is expected by many that Gregory Coupet may take the goalkeeper’s jersey from the erratic Marseille ‘keeper Fabien Barthez after Coupet grabbed more than two thirds of the vote in a recent public poll.

In the opinion poll published by France Football magazine on Friday, 69 percent of those polled expressed their desire for Coupet to be first-choice, while only 28 percent said Olympique Marseille's Fabien Barthez should remain in goal.

France squad to face Slovakia (team to be chosen from):

Goalkeepers: Fabien Barthez (Olympique Marseille), Gregory Coupet (Olympique Lyon)

Defenders: Eric Abidal (Olympique Lyon), Jean-Alain Boumsong (Newcastle), Francois Clerc (Olympique Lyon), William Gallas (Chelsea), Philippe Mexes (AS Roma), Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich), Lilian Thuram (Juventus)

Midfielders: Vikash Dhorasoo (Paris St Germain), Alou Diarra (Racing Lens), Claude Makelele (Chelsea), Florent Malouda (Olympique Lyon), Patrick Vieira (Juventus), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid)

Strikers: Nicolas Anelka (Fenerbahce), Thierry Henry (Arsenal), Louis Saha (Manchester United), David Trezeguet (Juventus), Sylvain Wiltord (Olympique Lyon)

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