France 4-0 South Korea: Hosts off to flier at Women's World Cup

Wendie Renard scored twice as hosts France opened the Women's World Cup by thrashing South Korea 4-0 in Paris.

After forward Eugenie Le Sommer had fired in the first goal of the tournament in the ninth minute, centre-back Renard converted one header in the 35th and then another in first-half stoppage-time.

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Captain Amandine Henry added a superb strike with five minutes of normal time to go.

It was a dominant display from Corinne Diacre's side against opponents who gave them very little to worry about.

With French President Emmanuel Macron among the crowd of 45,261 watching at the Parc des Princes, Les Bleues came close to taking the lead in the second minute when Henry curled an effort just wide, and Le Sommer then saw her low strike saved.

Two minutes later, the pair combined to put France in front, Le Sommer meeting Henry's cut-back with a shot that went in off the bar via the hand of goalkeeper Kim Minjung.

France thought they had doubled the lead in the 27th minute when Griedge Mbock Bathy volleyed in, but the effort was ruled out for offside following a VAR check.

Le Sommer then had a strike tipped over by Kim, before the advantage was extended by Renard's header from Gaetane Thiney's corner.

Renard subsequently repeated the trick to make it 3-0 as she got her head to another corner just before the break.

After Henry brought another save out of Kim in the 57th minute, South Korea registered an attempt on goal when Kang Chaerim fired off-target.

They were then presented with a good chance following a mistake by Renard, but Lee Mina dragged her shot wide.

Henry subsequently completed the rout as she beat Kim with a fine effort from just outside the box.

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• France's 4-0 win over Korea Republic in this match was the biggest win by a host nation in their opening game of a FIFA Women's World Cup tournament since China PR defeated Norway 0-4 in 1991. In that year, Norway went on to reach the final before losing to the United States.
• France's victory tonight means that seven of the eight host nations of a FIFA Women's World Cup have won their opening game of that tournament, including the last six in a row. The only host nation not to win their opening match at a Women's World Cup tournament were Sweden in 1995 (0-1 vs Brazil).
• Korea Republic have lost six matches at FIFA Women's World Cup finals tournaments, half of which have come against France (3).
• France's starting XI in this match had an average age of 28y 161d; the oldest they have started a FIFA Women's World Cup match with in their history (15 games). Korea Republic's starting XI was also their oldest in FIFA Women's World Cup history (27y 348d).
• Eugénie Le Sommer's goal was her 75th for France in all competitions; the only female with more is Marinette Pichon (81 goals). She has now scored 11 goals in her last 11 international appearances for France.
• 10 of Wendie Renard's last 11 goals for France have come from headers and this was her first international goal since March 2017 vs England.
• Wendie Renard scored twice in an international match for France for the first time since November 2013 vs Bulgaria - 2017 days ago.

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