French old-timers ready to play it again

Jun 16, 2006, 16:35 GMT

Hameln, Germany - France coach Raymond Domenech denies his ageing squad will be run off the pitch by the energetic South Koreans on Sunday.

France's World Cup team in a listless 0-0 draw with Switzerland on Tuesday was their oldest ever, with an average of 30 years and 191 days - despite the presence of debutant Franck Ribery (23 years and three months).

Goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, 35 in 12 days, is the oldest, followed by Lillian Thuram (34 years 6 months), Zinedine Zidane (34 next week), Claude Makelele (33 years 4 months) and Sylvain Wiltord (32 years 1 month).

Ribery and full-back Eric Abidal were the only players under 28.

But Domenech refused to agree that creaking limbs were the reason for such a mediocre display from the 1998 world champions, who are scoreless in the World Cup since that 3-0 final win over Brazil eight years ago.

'We just needed a bit more flair. I don't think the Swiss ran faster than us because they were younger,' he told reporters Friday.

But Domenech feels he has no-one else in France to replace his ageing stars.

'When I retired from international football in 2004 I thought someone would come along to take my place but they apparently didn't,' said the Chelsea midfielder Makelele.

Makelele was persuaded to return along with Thuram by Zidane when it looked as if France would fail to qualify for Germany.

But Domenech believes his vastly experienced side would know how to handle the speedy Koreans, who recovered to beat Togo 2-1 in their opening game.

'Experience counts a lot at international football and we had to make several changes when Djibril (Cisse) broke his leg and Florent (Malouda) was unwell for the first game,' Domenech said.

Malouda, 26, will be back to face the Koreans to inject some much- needed pace to the midfield, with Manchester United's Louis Saha, 27 drafted in for Wiltord to give the isolated Thierry Henry some assistance in attack.