Two goals in less than a minute have helped France to a 3-0 lead at half time in their Group E clash with Switzerland at the World Cup this evening.

The French team looked the stronger of the two sides from the start as Karim Benzema unleashed a curling effort inside the opening 10 minutes, narrowly missing the target.

France continued to apply the pressure and broke the deadlock 17 minutes into the tie when Olivier Giroud headed in from a corner.

However, Didier Deschamps's men doubled their lead less than 20 seconds after the restart after Switzerland lost the ball to Blaise Matuidi on the edge of the box, allowing the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder to drill the ball in low.

Switzerland thought that they had got a goal back when Granit Xhaka slotted the ball past Hugo Lloris, but the midfielder's effort was ruled out for offside.

France had a chance to make it three just after the half-hour mark when Benzema was brought down in the box by Johan Djourou, but the Real Madrid forward's spot kick was saved by Diego Benaglio, before Yohan Cabaye smashed the rebound against the crossbar.

However, they made amends for the miss shortly before the break when Mathieu Valbuena smashed the ball in from close range from a Giroud cross, and had a chance to complete his brace a minute later but Benaglio made the save.

Written by
Sian Cowper