France's Juve trio fully focused, says Domenech

MUNICH, July 4 (Reuters) France's trio of Juventus players will be totally focused in the World Cup semi-final against Portugal despite the Italian club's troubles, French coach Raymond Domenech said today.

The prosecutor in Italy's match-fixing trial against four clubs -- Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio -- said today that he wanted all of those teams to be demoted from Serie A with Juve relegated to Serie C or below.

Two Juventus players, defender Lilian Thuram and midfielder Patrick Vieira, are expected to be in France's starting lineup for Wednesday's game in Munich with a third, striker David Trezeguet, likely to be on the bench.

''It's unfortunate this is happening now but we have to live with it,'' Domenech told reporters.

''I don't think this will affect the players at all. They have built a barrier around them and all they're worrying about right now is the World Cup. They're only thinking about the match against Portugal.'' While the Italian prosecutor's request is by no means certain to be agreed to by a tribunal in Rome, his demands were much tougher than many observers had expected.

REUTERS SHB RN2335