France opened a home World Cup that it hopes to win on Friday with a performance that will raise hopes that it is up to the task. Wendie Renard’s two goals, bookended by an early strike by Éugenie Le Sommer and a late one by Amandine Henry, led France to a 4-0 victory of South Korea at the Parc des Princes in Paris.
France’s victory was overwhelming and its dominance comprehensive: it outshot the Koreans by 21-3 and won 13 corner kicks to Korea’s 1. The French were physically, technically and tactically superior at every position. Renard, France’s tall center back, twice lost her markers to head in corner kicks with ease; Le Sommer scored off a steal and a cross by Henry; and Henry, France’s captain, delivered the final blow with a curling right-footed shot in the 85th minute.