New France coach to be named on Friday

The successor to Roger Lemerre as France's national coach should be named on Friday, French Soccer Federation sources confirmed on Wednesday as FFF president Claude Simonet began interviewing the four candidates.

Rene Girard, former assistant to Lemerrre who was sacked after the defending champions suffered a humiliating World Cup first round exit, was the first to press his claims.

"I worked for Roger Lemerre for four years. I'm in favour of continuity because it would save time," the 48-year old former international midfielder said as he left Federation headquarters.

"I don't have a magic wand to change everything in the house and, anyway, I'm not sure we have to throw everything away", he added.

Raymond Domenech, who followed Girard into Simonet's office, said he was confident he could handle the job because he had acquired, as the under-21 selector, "a knowledge of all the players eligible right now and for the years to come."

"I have trained them all as youngsters," he said.

Domenech has been coaching the under-21 team since 1993. Zinedine Zidane and Christophe Dugarry were among the first players he selected and he has since brought through such as Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet and Mikael Silvestre.

The other two candidates being interviewed later in the day are Jacques Santini, manager of French champions Olympique Lyon, and Philippe Troussier, who guided co-hosts Japan to the last 16 of the World Cup.