Domenech picks his squad....the next Trezeguet?

http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/20061109_140607Dev.html

So Domenech makes his selection for next week's friendly against the Greeks. Here is the squad -

Les 24 joueurs retenus
Gardiens : Grégory Coupet (Lyon), Mickaël Landreau (Paris-SG)
Défenseurs : Eric Abidal (Lyon), François Clerc (Lyon), Julien Escudé (FC Séville/ESP), Patrice Evra (Manchester United/ANG), William Gallas (Arsenal/ANG), Philippe Mexès (AS Rome/ITA), Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich/ALL), Lilian Thuram (FC Barcelone/ESP)
Milieux : Alou Diarra (Lyon), Sidney Govou (Lyon), Gonzalo Higuain (River Plate/ARG), Claude Makelele (Chelsea/ANG), Florent Malouda (Lyon), Rio Mavuba (Bordeaux), Franck Ribéry (Marseille), Jérémy Toulalan (Lyon), Patrick Vieira (Inter Milan/ITA), Sylvain Wiltord (Lyon)
Attaquants : Nicolas Anelka (Bolton/ANG), Karim Benzema (Lyon), Thierry Henry (Arsenal/ANG), Louis Saha (Manchester United/ANG)

Here is what strikes me:

• Why does Domenech insist on selecting Makelele? I understand why he wants him available for the qualifiers for the Euro, but maybe if he allowed him to stay home during friendlies he might win some points with the club managers. I doubt he will even play Keke, so why not let him sit at home for some R&R.
• I like seeing Anelka back in the squad, I think he is going to be valuable to the French squad moving forward. Had he been selected for the WC finals he was the type of striker that can make the difference by himself.
• I understand why Trezeguet was not selected (0 goals in 5 games). But I think he deserved to be recalled, especially since the team will be honoring the 1998 WC winning squad during the match....plus he could help Higuain...
• Speaking of which, surprise selection of Mr Higuain. The 18 year old prodigy who plies his trade for River Plate was unknown in France untill a few months ago, when he turned down a selection to the Argetinian under-20 national team stating he wanted to play for Les Bleus. This created a flurry of speculation that Domenech would call him up etc, which he has done. The question becomes will he accept the call up...I do not see why he would not. The arguement that he turned down the Argentina call up was to preserve his French citizen does not hold water. Having been born in Brest, Higuain held a French passport, had he played for Argentina he would still have a French passport making his ability to play for a European club seemless, last time I checked Crespo plays in Europe and for Argentina, as does Heintz, Riquilme, etc. It will be interesting to see the dynamics if Higuain ends up in the Stade de France next week wearing the "rooster." I think Trezeguet might have been useful having around, he made the same move. He being of Argentinian - French decent, decided to play for Les Bleus rather than Argentina (seems like a good choice, since he has been playing with Les Bleus he has won two major titles and reached another world cup final...Argentina...not so much)
• Chimbonda....again not sure why he did not get the call but Evra did. An article I read alluded to the fact he might have forfeited due to injury, if that is the case I retract my rant.
• Boumsong not called due to injury...he should not be called up due to the fact he is not good. Mexes or Escude are the ones that should be getting his time
• Benezema - It is great seeing Domenech call up another youngster. His run of form lately at Lyon and with the under -20s gives him the right to play with the big club.
  

I think domenech has called up some youth, some players that it will be good for him to take a look at. I do think that he should push that more with these friendly matches. Maybe he is starting to think about the future for the squad.....