The sight of a falling New Caledonian goalkeeper Une Kecine was all too recurrent. And that summed up the 7-1 drubbing the little French colony received at the hands of European giant France in the inaugural Group-E match at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium here on Sunday.
Playing under hot and humid conditions, France scripted a dominating performance, toying with the opponent from both flanks.
Starting with a 4-5-1 formation, which was expected given the stature of its opponent, New Caledonia failed miserably to put up a strong defensive wall. It just couldn’t stand up to the speed and guile of the former champion.
France’s star striker Amine Gouiri did his reputation no harm with two strikes that displayed his speed, turn and shooting abilities in full measure.
While forward Willem Geubbels impressed with his imagination early in the first half, it was Yacine Adli who provided the impetus with his splitting passes; three to be precise.
Ironically, it was an own goal that opened the floodgates for France. In an attempt to put away a cross from Geubbels, Iwa Bernard dabbed his left footer into his own net. A wonderful 1-2 between Yacine and Maxence Caqueret saw the latter pass it to Amine, who slotted it home.
Yacine's pass cut through the defence finding Amine on the right. The striker’s cross was struck home by captain Claudio Gomes. Amine toe-poked one past the ’keeper to make it 4-0 off a pass from Yacine.
Another own goal by Kiam Wanesse only made things worse for the debutant. The first half revealed the gulf in quality between the two teams.
France had the opportunity to score one more, minutes into the second half, but Maxence’s penalty was saved by Kecine. Compared to the first half, where France had 72% ball possession, the second session saw it slow down the pace.
In the second match of the group, Keito Nakamura’s hat-trick helped Japan register a thumping 6-1 win.
For a brief while, Honduras proved a hard nut to crack as it defended capably. But it was Japan that captured the hearts with a pleasing and effective display, be it one-touch passes or in creating chances.
Takefusa Kubo, the player who everyone wanted to watch, showed his wares with his turn and speed, but for most part was a marked man. The ‘Japanese Messi’ put his name on the scoreboard with a left-footer from close range.
There are no matches here on Monday and Tuesday. In a crucial match to decide the potential group topper, France will clash with Japan while New Caledonia will take on Honduras on Wednesday.
Group-E results: France 7 (Iwa Bernard 14-og, Amine Gouiri 20 & 32, Claudio Gomes 29, Maxence Caqueret 39th, Kiam Wanesse 43-og, Wilson Isidor 90+2) bt New Caledonia 1 (Sidri Wadenges 90).
Japan 6 (Keito Nakamura 22, 30 & 43; Takefusa Kubo 44, Taisei Miyashiro 51, Toichi Suzuki 90) bt Honduras 1 (Patrick Palacios 36) .
