Group E favourites France look like a team in form and should go far in the tournament. OK, so it was only Honduras, but they beat their opponents in style on Sunday night in Porto Alegre. Here are some takeaways from the game.
Pogba is France's wild card in more ways than one
One of the biggest mistakes Sir Alex Ferguson made as Manchester United manager was allowing Paul Pogba to leave the club. Granted, there were certain circumstances behind Pogba, 21, wanting to leave the club, but his subsequent performances for Juventus and his country have marked him out as one of the best young players in the world.
Click here to visit The National's dedicated World Cup 2014 landing page
He could have been sent off on Sunday night, for lashing out at Honduras' Wilson Palacios after the Stoke City man had trampled over his knee. David Beckham was shown red for England in 1998 for a similar incident against Argentina.
But Pogba has it all – pace, control, technique, composure. And he didn't even have to break sweat against Honduras.
This tournament is Pogba's chance to break out, show United fans what they missed and turn himself from incredible prospect into bona fide star. The game seems to come so easily to him and you sense he has a huge performance in his locker at some point in this tournament.
France are likely to qualify from the group, probably as winners. That means they will face the second-placed team in Argentina's group, most likely either Bosnia or Nigeria. A game they should win. It looks like they are on a collision course for a quarter-final with Germany, Portugal or Belgium. Most likely Germany. That will be Pogba's moment.
Ribery won't be missed by France
When Franck Ribery pulled out of the tournament with a back injury, France's chances of winning the World Cup seemed to take a fatal blow. The Bayern Munich forward was the team's main creator, their one superstar. Only Colombia, with Radamel Falcao, could point to a similar injury blow pre-tournament.
But Ribery's absence could be a blessing in disguise for France. Yes, they'd love to have him in the team still, but now teams don't have one man to focus their defensive attention on.
France thrashed Jamaica 8-0 in a warm-up and they showed some of that attacking verve on Sunday night too. It took them a while to get going, and they were helped by Palacios' red card, but this was still an impressive French display. And two men stood out – Antoine Griezmann and Mathieu Valbuena.
The pair are both 5ft 6 ins, both have a low centre of gravity and provide the same creative threat as Ribery. Griezmann only has five caps but the Real Sociedad man already has three goals – his link-up play between the midfield and centre-forward Karim Benzema was impressive. In tighter games than this, his deft layoffs could be key to unlocking defences.
Likewise, Valbuena is an assist waiting to happen. He got three in one warm-up game against Norway. One run in the first half summed up his threat, when he drove at the Honduras defence, holding off two men and almost playing a perfect one-two with Benzema. He looked impossible to tackle.
The pair are a fine balance to France's physical set of centre midfielders.
France may have lost their stardust, but they are playing like a team with all the pieces in the right place.
Madrid have helped Benzema look sharp
Karim Benzema was a let-down for France at Euro 2012. On Sunday, he looked incredibly confident. A season playing up front with Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale at Real Madrid seems to have done wonders for his morale. He looks to have benefited from knowing he was first-choice for club and, for country, the whole team is built around setting up chances for him.
He scored two against Honduras, caused an own goal and looks to have a very good chance of being top scorer.
Honduras were naive and reckless
France's manager Didier Deschamps was worried about Honduras' physical style before the game and he was justified. The Hondurans seemed to have one plan – to kick France into submission. They had one man sent off and another booked, but half their team should have gone into the book, there were that many bad tackles.
After fine performances by Mexico and Costa Rica, Honduras let the Concacaf region down with an industrial style of play.
Follow us on Twitter @SprtNationalUAE
