Zinedine Zidane and company will start finding out whether they are still young enough to dream when France face Switzerland on Tuesday. The 34-year-old midfielder and a few other ageing players from the team’s triumphs at the 1998 World Cup will retire after the finals in Germany and would love to do so on a high note. Several members of that golden generation like Lilian Thuram and Patrick Vieira, have looked rusty so far. They must now step up a gear at the Gottlieb Daimler Stadion, Switzerland being France’s toughest opponents in Group G, which also features South Korea and Togo. Switzerland, much improved in the past few years, showed they should not be taken lightly when they held France to two draws in World Cup qualifying. “When we play against France we could play them 10 times and perhaps win twice, so we have to hope one of those wins will come on Tuesday,” said coach Koebi Kuhn. Internal squ-abbling ma-rred their run in 2002 and were eli-minated without a goal from the group stage. “We are a lot fresher this time and we want to go all the way, that’s the goal this time,” said France’s midfielder Claude Makelele.Patrick VignalTHE SQUADSFRANCE: Goalkeepers: Mickael Landreau (1); Fabien Barthez (16); Gregory Coupet (23).Defenders: Jean-Alain Boumsong (2); Eric Abidal (3); William Gallas (5); Mikael Silvestre (13); Lilian Thuram (15); Gael GIvet (17); Willy Sagnol (19); Pascal Chimbonda (21). Midfielders: Patrick Vieira (4); Claude Makelele (6); Florent Malouda (7); Vikash Dhorasoo (8); Zinedine Zidane (10); Alou Diarra (18); Franck Ribery (22). Forwards: Sidney Govou (9); Sylvain Wiltord (11); Thierry Henry (12); Louis Saha (14); David Trezeguet (20). SWITZERLAND: Goalkeepers: Pascal Zuberbuehler (1); Diego Benaglio (12); Fabio Coltorti (21). Defenders: Johan Djourou (2); Ludovic Magnin (3); Philippe Senderos (4); Stephane Grichting (13); Christoph Spycher (17); Patrick Mueller (20); Philipp Degen (23). Midfielders: Xavier Margairaz (5); Johann Vogel (6); Ricardo Cabanas (7); Raphael Wicky (8); Blerim Dzemaili (15); Tranquillo Barnetta (16); Valon Behrami (19). Forwards: Alexander Frei (9); Daniel Gygax (10); Marco Streller (11); David Degen (14); Mauro Lustrinelli (18); Hakan Yakin (22). Match Officials: Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia); Assistant Referees: Nikolay Golubev (Russia) and Evgueni Volnin (Russia); 4th Official: Kevin Stott (U.S.).
