David and David face meaningful meeting

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By Patrick Vignal

PARIS (Reuters) - Wednesday's high-profile friendly international between France and England could turn out to be a David versus David affair.

While David Beckham hopes to win his 100th cap for England on the Stade de France pitch, David Trezeguet could get an opportunity to convince France coach Raymond Domenech he deserves to make the trip to the Euro 2008 finals .

The Juventus marksman had ruled out his chances of playing the tournament in Austria and Switzerland in June after again being left out by Domenech.

Late on Sunday, however, the 30-year-old was called to the rescue after Karim Benzema hurt his ankle in his Olympique Lyon side's 4-2 Ligue 1 win over Paris St Germain.

Serie A's top scorer with 17 goals, Trezeguet, who has scored 34 goals in 70 appearances, has not played for France since their 1-0 defeat by Scotland in a Euro 2008 qualifier last September in Paris.

A member of France's 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 winning teams, Trezeguet has a difficult relationship with Domenech and has suffered from the rise of talented young strikers such as the 20-year-old Benzema.

Trezeguet knows Wednesday's match will be the last before Domenech unveils his 23-man Euro 2008 squad in May and scoring a goal or two would be an important statement.

HUNDRED CLUB

Just as keen to appear will be David Beckham, back in the squad after missing the Switzerland game and expected to become only the fifth England player to win 100 caps for his country.

While obviously wanting to win the match, England's players will also try to convince new Italian coach Fabio Capello that they merit a place in his planning for the World Cup qualifying campaign that starts later this year.

England's failure to reach the European championship finals means Capello has only four more friendlies in which to experiment with the squad, following their 2-1 win over Switzerland in his first match in charge last month.

Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney, who both picked up injuries on Sunday playing for Chelsea and Manchester United respectively, were expected to have fitness tests before leaving for Paris, with Lampard the more doubtful of the two.

If he doesn't start, Owen Hargreaves could get a place in the starting line-up.

England would love to win against France in Paris for the first time in nearly 60 years. Their last victory in the French capital was a 3-1 friendly win in 1949.

They have played there four times since then, losing three and drawing once, although they did beat France 1-0 in the Tournoi de France in Montpellier in 1997 when a young Beckham won his ninth England cap.

Possible teams:

France: Gregory Coupet; Francois Clerc, William Gallas, Lilian Thuram, Eric Abidal; Claude Makelele, Jeremy Toulalan, Franck Ribery, Florent Malouda; Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet.

England: David James; Wayne Bridge, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Ashley Cole; David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Gareth Barry; Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney.

Referee: Florian Meyer (Germany).

(Additional reporting by Mike Collett, editing by Martin Petty)

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