Match Report – France 4 – 0 Republic of Korea

The tournament begins in Paris; England confronts Scotland on Sunday

Wendie Renard scored twice at the opening of the Women's World Cup by France
beating South Korea 4-0 in Paris.

After striker Eugenie Le Sommer scored the first goal of the tournament in the ninth minute, center-back Renard converted a header to 35th, then another in stoppage time in the first period.

Captain Amandine Henry added a superb shot five minutes from normal.

The players of Corinne Diacre dominated their opponents and gave them very little concern to be made.

With French President Emmanuel Macron among the 45,261 spectators at the Parc des Princes, the Blues nearly took advantage in the second minute when Henry made an effort next door, and Le Sommer saw his shot reduced saved.

Two minutes later, the two men allied themselves to give France the advantage, Le Sommer met Henry's free-kick with a shot that escaped the bar thanks to the hand of goalkeeper Kim Minjung.

France thought they had doubled the lead in the 27th minute when Griedge Mbock Bathy had entered the match, but the effort had been dismissed offside following a VAR check.

The Sommer had then reversed Kim's strike before the advantage was extended by Renard's head from Gaetane Thiney's corner.

Fox then repeated the trick to bring the score to 3-0 as she headed for another bend just before the break.

After Henry got another stop over Kim in the 57th minute, South Korea scored a goal-goal attempt when Kang Chaerim fired.

Renard had given them a good chance, but Lee Mina had let slip his shot.

Henry then completed the defeat by beating Kim with a nice effort from outside.

Opta Stats

• France's 4-0 win over the Republic of Korea in this match was the biggest victory of a host country in its first match of the FIFA Women's World Cup since the People's Republic of China beat Norway 0-4 in 1991. That year Norway had the final before losing to the United States.
• France's win tonight means that seven of the eight FIFA Women's World Cup host countries have won their first match of this tournament, including the last six in a row. The only host country not to win its opening match at a Women's World Cup is Sweden in 1995 (0-1 against Brazil).
• The Republic of Korea lost six matches in the finals of the FIFA Women's World Cup, half against France (3).
• The starting lineup of France in this match had an average age of 28 years and 161 days; The oldest started a match of the FIFA Women's World Cup in her history (15 games). The starting lineup of the Republic of Korea was also the oldest in the history of the FIFA Women's World Cup (27y 348d).
• The goal of Eugénie Le Sommer was her 75th for France in all competitions; The only woman to have 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 were won by the head. It was his first international goal since March 2017 against England.
• Wendie Renard has scored twice in an international match for France for the first time since November 2013 against Bulgaria – there are 2017 days.