Cisse makes French squad

DJIBRIL CISSE seems to have earned a place in France's World Cup squad, after he was named in his country's 21-man training group, which along with Real Madrid stars Zinedine Zidane and Claude Makelele is likely to make up Les Bleus's final party.

Cisse, whose performances for Auxerre this term have led Liverpool, Arsenal, Juventus and Milan to all declare an interest in him, has edged out more established stars Nicolas Anelka and Steve Marlet for the final forward berth.

Elsewhere there are no surprises in the squad, with Youri Djorkaeff's late season form on-loan at Bolton Wanderers consolidating his place in the party, which will retain 17 members from the squad that was victorious in Euro 2000 and 14 from the 1998 World Cup winning team.

The other players who will be playing in their first major tournament are Monaco goalkeeper Gregory Coupet, defenders Mikael Silvestre of Manchester United, Bayern Munich's Willy Sagnol and Philippe Christanval of Barcelona.

The training camp at Clairfontaine will commence on May 14, with the squad expected to depart for the Far East five days later.

21-man training squad:
Goalkeepers:
Fabien Barthez (Manchester United), Gregory Coupet (Lyon), Ulrich Rame (Bordeaux).

Defenders:
Vincent Candela (Roma), Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich), Frank Leboeuf (Marseille), Bixente Lizarazu (Bayern Munich), Philippe Christanval (Barcelona), Marcel Desailly (Chelsea), Mikael Silvestre (Manchester Utd), Lilian Thuram (Juventus)

Midfielders:
Alain Boghossian (Parma), Youri Djorkaeff (Bolton), Johan Micoud (Parma), Emmanuel Petit (Chelsea), Patrick Vieira (Arsenal).

Forwards:
Sylvain Wiltord (Arsenal), Thierry Henry (Arsenal), David Trezeguet (Juventus), Christophe Dugarry (Bordeaux), Djibril Cisse (Auxerre).