S. Korea crashes out of FIFA Women's World Cup

South Korea crashed out of the FIFA Women's World Cup with a 3-0 loss to France in the round of 16 on Sunday.

France scored twice in the first eight minutes en route to the rout at Olympic Stadium, as the flustered South Korea, ranked 18th in the world, found itself overmatched against the third-ranked opponent.

Forward Marie-Laure Delie scored twice and midfielder Elodie Thomis added another for France, which finished fourth at the previous Women's World Cup in 2011.

It was South Korea's first trip to the knockout stage in its second try at the quadrennial competition. The team played France without forward Ji So-yun, its leading scorer with 39 international goals, who sat out with a thigh injury.

The South Koreans went down by a pair before they knew what hit them. Delie put France on board in just the fourth minute, as she found herself on the receiving end of a nifty tic-tac-toe with Louisa Necib making the final pass.

The French needed only four more minutes to double their lead.

After a pretty give-and-go with Eugenie Le Sommer at the top of the box, Thomis rolled one past goalkeeper Kim Jung-mi.

South Korea appeared to settle down midway through the opening half. Jeon Ga-eul sent a free kick toward the goal in the 24th, but no one was around to pound on the rebound after goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi had trouble with the curling shot.

Thomis nearly had her second of the match in the 26th but saw her shot miss the left post. Then just past the half-hour mark, Le Sommer came within inches of putting France up by three, as her shot rolled just wide of the right post following a feed from Laure Boulleau.

France struck early in the second half. Only three minutes in, Le Sommer drove past defender Kim Do-yeon down the left wing and set up Delie, who beat stationary defensive back Shim Seo-yeon to the ball and netted her second of the match.

France remained in full control the rest of the way. Substitute Yoo Young-a had South Korea's best scoring chance in the 75th minute, but Bouhaddi was there to punch the hard shot out of harm's way. (Yonhap)