Zidane, Makelele back for France

French hopes of overhauling the three teams currently lying ahead of them in the race for World Cup qualification received a considerable boost yesterday when Zinedine Zidane announced that both he and Claude Makelele had decided to come out of international retirement ahead of the final rounds of Group Four games in the autumn.

The decision follows a series of meetings between the Real Madrid star and French coach Raymond Domenech who had previously failed on a number of occasions to persuade some of the team's former stars to return.

With the possibility that the French might fail to qualify for next summer's finals looming large after the team's failure to beat any of its main group rivals - Ireland, Switzerland and Israel - at home, however, the coach appears to have redoubled his efforts to secure the return of the side's former skipper and after strongly hinting that he would be back in April, Zidane confirmed that he would be in Montpellier in two weeks for the friendly game against the Ivory Coast.

"Raymond Domenech came to see me two or three times in Madrid and we have discussed the possibility that Makelele and I might return to the side," Zidane said in a statement issued through his personal website. "Playing for the French national team is one of the most important aspects of my life and that is why I have decided to come back. I don't want people to think that I will return like Zorro, that I will be a saviour but I do want to do my best to help the French team.

"This is the first time in my life that I have gone back on a really important decision in my life," he added. "When I took the decision to retire I didn't take it lightly, I reflected for a long time on it. Now, I have done the same thing before deciding that it is right to come back."

Domenech, who has come under severe pressure in France after his attempts to replace the departed stars with younger players failed to produced the desired results, was predictably pleased at the news that two key figures would be available to him again for his team's upcoming World Cup games against the Faroe Islands in Lens on September 3rd and Ireland in Dublin four days later.

"Since taking this job," he said, "I have regularly made it clear that I wanted to select the best available French players. I also made it clear that I understood completely the desire of certain French players to end their adventure with Les Bleus although I have always acknowledged that I regretted their absence.

"Today, several weeks ahead of the decisive games of this campaign, I'm particularly pleased to be able to report that the players who put their international careers on hold last summer have expressed the desire to return to the French team."

Zidane last played for France in the 1-0 defeat by Greece at the quarter-final stage of the European Championships in Portugal where his presence, it should be noted, did little to lift the defending champions above the mediocre.

Two weeks later he confirmed his intention to retire although there have been rumours on several occasions since that he might change his mind, most notably in April, when he hinted at a return during the course of an interview with L'Equipe.

His agent subsequently denied the story although there was speculation in France that the player had, behind the scenes, suggested that he would play again in the event that Domenech was dismissed.

Makelele, meanwhile, persevered with the team until September when his failure even to make the bench for the game in the Faroe Islands prompted his own departure.

While Zidane (33) went on to have what was, by his own very high standards, a rather subdued season with Madrid, Makelele (32) was a key figure in Chelsea's first Championship success for half a century. The news that the Chelsea player was also announced by Zidane, who appears to have spoken with Domenech on behalf of both players.

For the coach the news represents a considerable boost and it is likely that it will strengthen his hand when dealing with other unhappy senior squad members, notably Robert Pires and Fabien Barthez, both of whom have expressed dissatisfaction with his management style.

It also represents a significant psychological boost to a team that needs to win at least one and probably both of its key remaining away games against Ireland and Switzerland if automatic qualification is to be secured.