France beat the United States 3-0 thanks to a second-half rout as the teams began the group stage of the men's Olympic tournament in Marseille on Wednesday.
After a scoreless first half, the floodgates opened when Alexandre Lacazette, one of France's most senior players on the team, fired a shot past American goalkeeper Patrick Schulte to make it 1-0.
Michael Olise, who recently made a high-profile move from Crystal Palace to Bayern Munich, doubled the lead soon after and Loïc Badé headed home before full-time to give Thierry Henry's hosts their maiden win and top spot in Group A.
Before finding their rhythm, France had to fight hard against an American team that saw Djordje Mihailovic's shot hit the crossbar with the game still tied. Lacazette's goal came almost immediately after.
The United States, making its first Olympic appearance in men's soccer since 2008, is in third place behind New Zealand, which beat Guinea 2-1 in the day's other Group A match.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.
