France squad: Cisse out, Gomis in

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May 28, 2008 19:19 IST

Bafetimbi Gomis earned a place in France's final 23-man squad for Euro 2008 on Wednesday, a day after celebrating his first cap with two goals in a 2-0 warm-up win over Ecuador.

Dutch squad | German squad

Coach Raymond Domenech, who had to cross out seven names from a provisional list of 30 players announced earlier this month, decided to keep the 22-year-old St Etienne forward.

Gomis had been expected to be dropped until he became the first player to score twice on his France debut since Zinedine Zidane in a 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic in 1994.

Domenech went for Gomis instead of Olympique Marseille's Djibril Cisse. The two men both scored 16 Ligue 1 goals this season and Gomis came on for Cisse for the second half of Tuesday's game in Grenoble.

Defenders Philippe Mexes and Julien Escude, midfielders Alou Diarra and Mathieu Flamini, forward Hatem Ben Arfa and reserve goalkeeper Mickael Landreau are the other casualties.

The most prominent absentee from the 30-man list was Juventus marksman David Trezeguet, with whom Domenech has a difficult relationship.

France are in Group C with world champions Italy, Netherlands and Romania at the June 7-29 Euro 2008 finals in Austria and Switzerland.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Gregory Coupet (Olympique Lyon), Sebastien Frey (Fiorentina), Steve Mandanda (Olympique Marseille).

Defenders: Eric Abidal (Barcelona), Jean-Alain Boumsong (Lyon), Francois Clerc (Olympique Lyon), Sebastien Squillaci (Olympique Lyon), William Gallas (Arsenal), Patrice Evra (Manchester United), Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich), Lilian Thuram (Barcelona).

Midfielders: Lassana Diarra (Portsmouth), Claude Makelele (Chelsea), Jeremy Toulalan (Olympique Lyon), Patrick Vieira (Inter Milan).

Forwards: Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea), Karim Benzema (Olympique Lyon), Sidney Govou (Olympique Lyon), Samir Nasri (Olympique Marseille), Bafetimbi Gomis (St Etienne), Thierry Henry (Barcelona), Florent Malouda (Chelsea), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich).

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