France players savoured a "dream" opening to the women's World Cup after the hosts set the ball rolling in style with a 4-0 win over South Korea before a sell-out crowd on Friday in Paris. More than 45,000 supporters filled the Parc des Princes to watch Les Bleues cruise to a one-sided victory, with giant defender Wendie Renard scoring twice in between goals from Eugenie Le Sommer and captain Amandine Henry.
"Personally I could not have dreamed of a better start," said Renard, the tallest player in the competition, as she admitted an emotional rendition of the French national anthem had lifted the home players. France took the lead in the ninth minute and were 3-0 in front at half-time, having another goal disallowed for offside after a VAR review.
"We can savour this but we have not won anything yet. We need to keep our feet on the ground," she added. Almost a million tickets have been sold for this World Cup amid hopes that the month-long tournament will be a springboard to helping the women's game really take off.
In France, broadcaster TF1 on Saturday reported that almost 10 million viewers had tuned in to watch the game, a figure it said was a record in the country for a women's World Cup match.