France hopeful Cabaye will be fit to face Swiss

RIBEIRAO PRETO, Brazil (AP) France is optimistic that midfielder Yohan Cabaye will recover from a groin problem in time to be fit to face Switzerland in their World Cup match on Friday.

The Paris Saint-Germain midfielder asked to be taken off during the second half of last Sunday's 3-0 win against Honduras and later complained of feeling pain in his groin.

When asked about Cabaye's condition on Tuesday, France's assistant coach Guy Stephan sounded hopeful when he said ''the game is still a fairly long way off, but there's no reason to believe he won't play,'' adding that Cabaye is ''doing pretty well.''

France began Tuesday's afternoon training session with some light jogging around the field and Cabaye joined in with the rest of the squad.