NICE, France: Eugenie Le Sommer scored the winning goal from the penalty spot to lift host nation France to a 2-1 win over Norway at the Women’s World Cup on Wednesday.
Then she had a special embrace for one of her teammates.
France defender Wendie Renard almost cost France the game when she turned the ball into her own net to even the match at 1-1.
Le Sommer came to the rescue and moved France to 2-0 in this tournament when she scored the winner in the 72nd minute. A relieved Renard was one of the first players to celebrate with Le Sommer.
“I knew it was hard for her,” Le Sommer said. “I know Wendie well, and I know how much she can give us. She came up to me completely naturally and thanked me and I just said ‘No.’“
“In the first match she scored two goals. What’s most important is the group. I’m happy also for her that her mistake was rectified.”
Neither goalkeeper was really tested in an entertaining first half, but France took the lead immediately after the break when Valerie Gauvin tapped in Amel Majri’s cross. Gauvin had been benched at the start of France’s opening 4-0 win over South Korea, reportedly because she was late to training.
Norway tied it eight minutes later when Renard knocked Isabell Herlovsen’s low cross into her own net.
Renard, considered one of the best defenders in the world, appeared to be in tears as she raised her face to the sky in anguish.
“I made a huge, huge mistake but we showed our character,” Renard said. “Amel was speaking to me but I couldn’t really understand what she was saying. So to be safe I went to put it out for a corner but it ended up in the back of the net.
“It could have ruined the night, it could have put us in difficulty mentally but we really showed that we are ready, that we are strong.”
Video review was used on Le Sommer’s game-winning goal, which stood because a penalty was awarded after a high tackle by Ingrid Syrstad Engen on Marion Torrent.
“I saw the replays from afar and for me there was a contact that deserved the penalty,” Le Sommer said. “If it was against us, well I don’t know. ... I think the referee made the right decision. In the first match the VAR took away a goal from us, in this match it helped us get one, but what was most important was to win this match and the VAR maybe helped us, but we have to get used to this now in football.”
France is three points ahead of Norway in Group A. Nigeria was also three points behind France, which is vying to become the first nation to hold both the men’s and women’s World Cup titles at the same time.
“It was a battle for top spot, even though we can’t denigrate the last match against Nigeria,” Le Sommer said. “It was a very important victory today for our preparation for the rest of the tournament.”
Norway, which won the competition in 1995, is playing without Ada Hegerberg. The 2018 FIFA Ballon d’Or winner stepped down from the national team because of what she says are differences in the way the federation treats the men’s and women’s teams.
“We lost the match but I thought we were equal with the French,” Norway coach Martin Sjogren said. “We knew that we were going to face a very good opponent and we had a good plan. I wasn’t surprised by the French team — we knew they were going to be athletic with fast players and speed — but we played well and I’m very proud of how my players performed out there.
“In my book, I think we deserved a 1-1.”
France beats Norway 2-1 to remain undefeated in Women's World Cup
France beats Norway 2-1 to remain undefeated in Women's World Cup
- Le Sommer came to the rescue and moved France to 2-0 in this tournament
29 players advance to round 2 of LIV Golf Promotions
- Friday’s 18-hole shootout will determine the weekend field that compete for 3 spots in the 2026 LIV Golf League
LECANTO, FLORIDA: The key to advancing beyond Thursday’s opening round of LIV Golf Promotions was simple: break par.
All 29 players who shot better than even-par 70 at Black Diamond Ranch moved on to Friday’s second round, to be joined by 18 exempt players in another 18-hole shootout to determine the weekend field that will compete for three spots in the 2026 LIV Golf League.
Canada’s Richard T. Lee led the first-round field of 60 players with a bogey-free six-under 64, two shots better than his nearest competitors, thanks to a stretch of four birdies in his final six holes.
“It’s the first round, and finishing first is always a great feeling,” said the 35-year-old Lee. “But the scores are going to reset tomorrow for the second round, and hopefully I can put up another good score out there.”
Of the 47 players competing on Friday, the top 20 and ties will advance to the two-day weekend shootout. The top three players after those 36 final holes will earn wild-card spots for the upcoming LIV Golf season.
At last season’s LIV Golf Promotions tournament, Lee was exempt into the second round, then advanced into the weekend. If he earns one of the three spots, he would be the league’s first Canadian player.
“Definitely for everyone out there that’s striving to get the three cards, I think it’s going to be a life-changer to be out there on LIV Golf and performing at the highest level,” Lee said.
Among those advancing comfortably behind Lee with four-under 64s were youngsters Max Kennedy of Ireland and Pablo Ereno of Spain, Korea’s Hongtaek Kim, and Thailand’s Suteepat Prateeptienchai and Sadom Kaewkanjana.
Ereno turned pro last June and is the youngest player in the field, at 22. He is hoping to follow the same path as current LIV Golf players Josele Ballester, David Puig and Luis Masaveu, the three young Spaniards who will be teammates on Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC team this season.
“I’m super close, especially with Josele and Luis Masaveu,” said Ereno, who played collegiately at UCLA. “I’ve only heard good things about it, so that’s why I’m here trying to earn my spot for next year. They’re really happy playing on LIV, and I think I would be, too, in case I play great this week.”
Kennedy was still an amateur in 2023 when he participated in the inaugural LIV Golf Promotions tournament and advanced from the first round.
“Definitely a lot more comfortable,” Kennedy said. “Back then, it was kind of new to me, so I was a little bit more nervous, didn’t know what to expect. Going out there tomorrow, I’ll know how to feel. I know what I’m going to feel.”
Prateeptienchai is one of two players at Black Diamond Ranch who previously advanced to the final 36-hole shootout in each of the previous two Promotions tournaments.
The other, Kieran Vincent, earned a LIV Golf spot in 2023, and Prateeptienchai is hoping for a similar result this week. He previously finished T11 in 2023 and T8 last season.
Provided he advances again after Friday’s second round, he hopes not having to play 36 holes in a single final day, as in the previous Promotions tournaments, will be a positive.
This year, the final two rounds consist of 18 holes on Saturday and 18 more on Sunday. “Just really tired because it’s playing 36 holes in a day,” Prateeptienchai said. “This year, it’s 18 and 18. More happy.”
Kaewkanjana is one of 12 players this week with previous LIV Golf experience. He played in all eight tournaments during the inaugural 2022 season and has been working hard to earn another chance.
“I try to get into LIV Golf this year,” he said, “so that it gets me a great experience to play with the greatest players in the world.”
Eleven players made the top-20-and-ties cut on the number at one-under 69, including Australia’s Cory Crawford, who birdied the difficult par-four 18th to secure his spot.
England’s Joe Pagdin, playing in the final group that started off the 10th tee, bogeyed his next-to-last hole but bounced back with a birdie at the par-five ninth to also advance.
