Mexico stamped itself as a favorite for its second Olympic soccer title in three tries Thursday, riding second-half goals from Alexis Vega, Sebastián Córdova, Uriel Antuna and Eduardo Aguirre to a surprisingly comfortable 4-1 win over France in the first game of group play at the Tokyo Games.
France got its only score from André-Pierre Gignac, who plays club soccer in Mexico with Tigres, on a second-half penalty kick.
France, which qualified for Tokyo by reaching the semifinals of the UEFA U-21 championships, a tournament played more than two years ago, had hoped to use its first Olympic appearance since 1996 to showcase its deep youth-development system, one second only to Brazil in terms of domestic players exported around the globe.