France managed a rapid start en route to a comfortable 3-0 defeat of the Korea Republic and will now take on top-ranked Germany in a quarter-final tilt of superb teams.
Marie Laure Delie netted a double, while Elodie Thomis added the third goal.
Ball movement, body control and spacing moving up the field were the factors that heavily contributed to France getting the better of Korea in this match.
“My players were in a determined mood right from the outset, from the moment the national anthem was played,” France manager Philippe Bergeroo said.
In the fourth minute, Camille Abily and Laure Boulleau executed wonderful combination that ended with a drop pass to Delie for the first score of the match. The Koreans chased Les Bleues on this sequence but weren’t aware enough to snuff out the attack at the end.
Four minutes later, Thomis and Eugenie Le Sommer put together a run of play similar to that of the opening goal, and Thomis smashed a strike into the corner past goalie Kim Jungmi to make the scoreline 2-0.
“We conceded two goals very quickly – France put us under a lot of pressure and our defence couldn’t deal with it,” Korea Republic head coach Yoon Dukyeo said, per FIFA.com.
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France continued to dictate the pace and held the obvious advantage on the attack, while Korea had chances here and there, many of which were not very intimidating.
Jungmi stood out in the first half with saves on Delie and Le Sommer to keep hopes alive for the Taegeuk Ladies.
Mere minutes into the second half, though, Korea’s luck hit another snag.
Le Sommer dribbled past multiple defenders in magnificent fashion and ran out of space as she reached the end line, but kept her head up and tapped a short back pass to Delie, who buried a brace with a calm shot through the legs of Jungmi.
