France turns on class, beats U.S. men at Olympics

France beat the United States 3-0 thanks to a second-half barrage as the teams began group play in the men’s Olympic tournament in Marseille on Wednesday.

After a scoreless first half, the floodgates opened when Alexandre Lacazette, one of France’s senior players in the squad, lashed a shot past U.S. keeper Patrick Schulte to make it 1-0.

Michael Olise, who just made a high-profile move from Crystal Palace to Bayern Munich, doubled the lead soon after and Loïc Badé smashed home a header before full-time to give Thierry Henry’s host side the opening win and top spot in Group A.

Before finding its stride, France had to battle hard against a U.S. team that saw a shot from Djordje Mihailovic hit the cross bar when the game was still goalless. Lacazette’s goal came almost immediately after.

The United States, making a first Olympic appearance in men’s soccer since 2008, is in third behind New Zealand, which beat Guinea 2-1 in the other Group A match of the day.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.