Nicolas Anelka insists he is tough enough to handle being left out of France's squad for a third straight World Cup.
The temperamental Fenerbahce hitman, who missed out on the 1998 and 2002 tournaments, returned to the international fold last August after three-and-a-half years in the wilderness due to fall-outs with successive coaches.
But should current boss Raymond Domenech omit him once more, Anelka is adamant he will take it on the chin.
"I was never much affected by the fact I missed the two World Cups, because I knew I was not judged on my sporting qualities," he said.
"If I let myself get down from it all I could not be here today, I could have drowned myself.
"For me, what happened had to happen, I accept it. When I don't play a World Cup, I don't make a fuss about it and I think that I am on holiday.
"I am a believer. I know that if I don't do bad things on earth I am not a bad guy. I accept what happens to me and I live my life."
In November 2002, Anelka spurned a cap under Jacques Santini's reign, claiming he did not want to play second-fiddle after being called up as a replacement for the injured Sidney Govou.
The 26-year-old, who was part of the Euro 2000-winning squad, did not play under Santini again and admits he thought his international career was over.
But Domenech, who has been in charge since July 2002, decided to give him his chance again during the summer, just a few months away from the next World Cup in Germany.
"I never thought I could come back with Les Bleus," Anelka told L'Equipe.
"All I knew is that even if I was not at the same level as when I was in England, I have shown good performances with Fenerbahce.
"But by playing in Turkey I never thought I would play again for France.
"I spoke with Raymond Domenech and he said to me that we had to forget about all the stories in the papers, that it did not matter and that the most important thing was what was happening on the pitch."
Anelka believes missing out on successive World Cups and Euro 2004 had nothing to do with his footballing ability and everything to do with his relationship with 1998 coach Aime Jacquet and his successors Roger Lemerre and Santini.
He said: "Every time I had problems with the coaches because of a lack of communication. I had talked only five minutes with Santini and his speech was contradictory - same with Jacquet.
"Roger Lemerre is a very special person, it's hard to talk with him."
After a difficult qualifying campaign, which saw Zinedine Zidane, Lilian Thuram and Claude Makelele come out of international retirement, France will kick-start their Group G campaign on June 13 against Switzerland.
Anelka sees parallels between the current squad and the 1998 world champions.
"The current scenario reminds me of 1998," he added. "At the time no-one thought France would become world champions.
"Before the competition the matches were tense and people were questioning the team's qualities.
"At the moment, everyone believes France will be eliminated in the first round. It's true they struggled to qualify but that's also a good thing because they will not be favourites and the pressure will be less.
"I do believe Brazil are the big favourites but that's what they also were in 1998 and history showed you can beat them."
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