After the verbal insults on coach Raymond Domenech, Nicolas Anelka could have stayed in the French squad but the Chelsea striker refused to apologize.

Anelka has been excluded from France's World Cup squad after he refused to apologize for a bust-up with Domenech at half-time against Mexico on Thursday.

"I had another chat with him (Anelka) the next day and I left open the possibility for him to apologize, something which he did not want to do," said Domenech when interviewed by TF1 on Sunday.

The 31-year-old Anelka, who was replaced after the incident, is due to return to France tonight and will take no part in the rest of Les Bleus' World Cup campaign which they failed to score any goal in two games.

Anelka has now confessed to having an altercation with Domenech, but declared that he will not explain the reasons for the spat before France are out of the World Cup.

"It was not a confrontation," said 57-year-old Domenech. "People cannot imagine the pressure. We are in a dressing-room, the coach says something to a player who is already under pressure, he can react angrily, and with strong words."

"The decision to exclude him was the right one," said Domenech. "What was important was that it made the front page of a newspaper, and that exposes the internal life of the squad."

French media disclosed the quarrel between Anelka and his coach, and the FFF said such insulting remarks from the player was "totally unacceptable" for the union and violated the value of French football.

"He (Anelka) does not have the right to say such things," added Domenech, whose side will take on hosts South Africa on Tuesday.