The painful memories of South Africa will soon begin to fade if this is a sign of things to come from France. Inspired by Karim Benzema, who was left out of the squad that created such a furore at the World Cup four years ago, France got off to the perfect start in Brazil with a comfortable victory over a Honduras team who did nothing to alter their reputation for adopting an overly physical approach.
Already controlling the game and unfortunate to hit the woodwork twice early on through Blaise Matuidi and Antoine Griezmann, France never looked back from the moment Benzema converted a penalty just before the interval, after Wilson Palacios had picked up a second yellow card for a moment of stupidity. Palacios’s clumsy, premeditated foul on Paul Pogba, with whom he had clashed earlier, left Honduras facing an exercise in damage limitation.
For France, who had far too much class for limited opponents, never mind a team reduced to 10 men, it became a matter of how much they wanted to twist the knife in the second half. With Yohan Cabaye influential in the centre of midfield, Les Bleus added a second in the 48th minute, when Benzema’s left-footed shot came back off the far upright and Noel Valladares, the Honduras goalkeeper, inadvertently pushed the rebound over the line.
Confusion reigned for a period, not helped by the “no goal” message that appeared on the big screen in the stadium, prompting the Honduras players to surround the referee and complain that the goal should not be allowed to stand. That message, however, was in relation to Benzema’s initial effort and the goal-line technology got it right moments later, when it was confirmed that Valladares had effectively scored an own-goal.
That was the cue for the French to start to enjoy themselves and, with Honduras struggling to contain them, it seemed inevitable that more goals would follow. Matuidi hit the side-netting and Valladares denied Benzema from point-blank range but the veteran goalkeeper was powerless to stop the Real Madrid striker from adding his second of the night – a fierce angled drive into the roof of the net – 18 minutes from time.
It was no more than France and Benzema deserved. On this evidence the striker is determined to make up for lost time and make his first World Cup one to remember. He was a constant menace against Honduras and it was hard to reconcile his performance with the man who had endured a run of 15 matches without a goal for his country before he scored against Australia in October. He has now registered eight in his last seven matches for France.
