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France enjoy dream start to World Cup on home soil

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
France enjoy dream start to World Cup on home soil
France's midfielder Amandine Henry celebrates after scoring against South Korea. Photo: AFP

Host nation France crushed South Korea 4-0 in the opening game of the women's World Cup on Friday.

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It was a fine start to a tournament that has been billed as the biggest yet for the women's game, with a sell-out crowd of more than 45,000 filling the Parc des Princes in Paris and celebrating a rampant French victory.

Les Bleues are among the favourites to win the trophy on home soil and they showed no mercy to the Koreans, with the prolific Eugenie Le Sommer giving them an early lead and defender Wendie Renard -- the tournament's tallest player -- twice heading home before the interval.

Captain Amandine Henry, impressive throughout, wrapped up the win late on in the Group A encounter, watched by French President Emmanuel Macron and FIFA chief Gianni Infantino.

Infantino has promised the month-long tournament will see the "explosion" of the women's game, with almost a million tickets sold so far for matches in the nine host cities.

On an emotional opening night, Henry said she and her teammates had been "close to tears" as the national anthem played before kick-off.

"I could not have dreamed for more than this," Henry said.

France coach Corinne Diacre struck a note of caution as she warned: "This is just one step. We have six more to go and we need to keep our feet on the ground and keep working hard."

It was a fine start for France and the tournament with a carnival atmosphere as the French showed their credentials having been set the target by their own federation of going all the way to the final in Lyon on July 7th.

READ ALSO: Five things to know about the Women's World Cup in France

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