Hugo's World Cup off to a flying start

It was a winning start to the World Cup for Hugo Lloris and France on Sunday, Les Bleus easing past 10-man Honduras to establish an early lead in Group E.

Hugo was hardly troubled in his side’s 3-0 win, our popular goalkeeper’s involvement largely restricted to gathering a couple of speculative long balls into his area and making a comfortable low stop to deny Oscar Boniek Garcia from a tight angle mid-way through the second period.

Honduras suffered a double blow just before half-time when Wilson Palacios conceded a penalty and was sent off for his second bookable offence. Karim Benzema duly converted from the spot to put France ahead.

It was 2-0 three minutes into the second half when Honduras goalkeeper Noel Valladares accidentally spilled the ball over the goal line after it cannoned off his left-hand post.

Benzema then rifled home France’s third 18 minutes from time, goal difference putting them above Friday’s opponents Switzerland – who beat Ecuador 2-1 earlier in the day – at the top of their group.

There’s plenty of Spurs interest in Tuesday’s World Cup fixtures. Jan Vertonghen, Mousa Dembele and Nacer Chadli are in Belgium’s squad for their Group H opener against Nabil Bentaleb’s Algeria (kick-off 5pm) before Paulinho’s Brazil take on Mexico in Group A (kick-off 8pm).

Wednesday then sees Benoit Assou-Ekotto’s Cameroon take on Croatia, also in Group A (kick-off 11pm).