A Karim Benzema brace and an own goal by goalkeeper Noel Valladares awarded after confirmation by goalline technology gave France a 3-0 victory over 10-man Honduras in their World Cup Group E match on Sunday.
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Wilson Palacios charged into French midfielder Paul Pogba seconds before the break in a reckless challenge that had him sent-off for a second booking, and Benzema smashed home the resulting penalty to give France a lead they deserved having dominated the first 45 minutes.
Three minutes into the second half, Benzema stole past the defence to shoot across goal with his shot coming back off the far post, rolling along the line and going in off Valladares.
"The second goal hits post, then the goalkeeper but I saw the ball behind the line so that is it," Benzema said.
"I don't know it is good to have goal line technology because football is like that, sometimes you don't know whether the ball was in or not but the essential thing is that it counted and we won."
Benzema struck again with 18 minutes left when he shot from a narrow angle on the right past Valladares and into the roof of the net.
The result will go a long way towards helping France banishing the ghost of their disastrous campaign in South Africa, when the players mutinied against coach Raymond Domenech and returned home in disgrace.
It also signalled that Benzema could be one of stars of the tournament.
The match - the first between the two teams - was a bruising encounter. Despite accusations that Honduras were a thuggish side, France dished it out too and the first yellow card was handed to Patrice Evra after he body-checked Andy Najar in the 7th minute.
France dominated almost from the start and might have opened their account earlier.
A shot by midfielder Blaise Matuidi was tipped on to the crossbar by Valladares and over for a corner in the 15th minute and Les Bleus rattled the bar again in the 23rd with a header by Antoine Griezmann from left back Patrice Evra's cross.
Benzema then headed busy midfielder Mathieu Valbuena's right cross over the bar two minutes later as Honduras battled in defence to stay in the match.
The tackles were going in fast and hard and matters came to a head in the 28th minutes when Palacios and Paul Pogba tangled on the ground, the veteran Honduran appearing to stamp the Frenchman and receving a kick in return. Both were given a yellow card but the incident was to have its denouement later.
Just before the break, Palacios clattered into Pogba in the penalty area. The popular player made an ignominious walk off the field and Benzema drilled in the penalty hard and high.
After that, the game was up for the Hondurans.
Three minutes into the second half, Benzema's hot cannoned off the post and back across the face of goal before Valladares inadvertently pushed it towards his own net.
Despite his desperate efforts to scramble the ball clear, the referee awarded the goal with the aid of the technology - the first time it has been used in a World Cup match to decide if the ball had crossed the line. Initially, it was credited to Benzema then logged as an own goal.
Matuidi skimmed the outside of his right post with a fine chance midway through the second half as France, making light of the absence of Frank Ribery, kept the Honduras goal under siege.
France coach Didier Deschamps will take encouragement from the fact that the French looked composed and did not get flustered when the goals did not come, although arguably they could have banged in a few more in the second half against the reduced Honduran side.
On top of Benzema's performance, defender Mathieu Debuchy looked impressive, notably for his forays up the right.
Honduras will have done nothing to lessen their reputation as a perennial underdogs with a nasty bite.
"There are no excuses, they played better than we did. We will have to improve but sometimes it is difficult to play with less players for such a long time especially facing a team that is very well organised," Honduras coach Luis Fernando Suarez said.
"The results would have been different if we had our 11 players but these things happen."