Anelka gets another chance with France

PARIS, Oct 5 (Reuters) Bolton Wanderers striker Nicolas Anelka has been recalled to the France squad to face Scotland and the Faroe Islands in their Euro 2008 Group B qualifiers.

Anelka has been drafted in because of injury doubts over Sidney Govou and Louis Saha, a France spokesman said today.

The much-travelled former Paris St Germain, Arsenal, Real Madrid and Liverpool forward will join France's training camp in Clairefontaine later today.

Anelka, 27, has scored seven goals in 31 internationals but has always had a rocky relationship with the national team.

He got a surprise recall last year but has not played since a 2-1 home defeat by Slovakia in a friendly on March. 1 and was overlooked for the World Cup in Germany.

Often dubbed the enfant terrible of French football, Anelka, who joined Bolton for 8 million pounds (.05 million) from Turkey's Fenerbahce in August, also missed out on the 1998 and 2002 tournaments.

He snubbed a late call up from former coach Jacques Santini for a friendly against Yugoslavia in 2002 and missed out on the 2004 European championship.

Now he has yet another chance to establish himself in the national team, starting against Scotland in Glasgow on Saturday and then against Faroe Islands next wednesday in Sochaux.

REUTERS AB PM1449