Three minutes into the second period, the German-manufactured GoalControl system was called into action when a volley from Karim Benzema, who ended the night with two goals, came back off the post.

It bounced back off the post across the area before hitting Honduras goalkeeper Noel Valladares and diverting back towards the goal.

Hapless Valladares' tried to scoop it clear but the GoalControl system signalled the ball had crossed the line prompting Brazilian referee Sandro Riccio to whistle for a goal.

There was a brief delay as Ricci consulted his fourth official while Honduras manager Luis Fernando Suarez angrily protested. But Valladares's goal stood. Honduras' players also protested the goal. For a couple of minutes it was unclear if the goal had been given.

Goal-line technology is being used for the first time at a World Cup finals in an attempt to eradicate the type of unwanted controversies that saw England's Frank Lampard denied a valid goal against Germany at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

There are seven high-speed cameras, each capable of taking 500 pictures a second, trained on each goal in the World Cup games.

France, whose 2010 World Cup was a footballing and public relations disaster, dominated the Group E match, twice hitting the woodwork in the first half.

First, Blaise Matuidi fired the ball towards the target but Valladares saved well and pushed the ball on to the crossbar.

Then, on the 23 minute mark, Antoine Griezmann, selected ahead of Olivier Giroud, climbed above the defence but headed on to the bar.

Stoke City midfielder Winston Palacios was yellow-carded for a brutal stamp on Pogba with the Frenchman also booked for a retaliatory kick.

Palacios was then red-carded in the dying moments of the half for another foul on Pogba inside the box.

Benzema converted the resulting penalty for his seventh goal in his last seven internationals.

The Real Madrid striker then played the crucial role in his team's historic second goal before striking his second of the night from a tight angle in the 72nd minute.

The clash between got off to a bizarre start as the national anthems for both sides were not played before kick-off.

Both teams lined up for the anthems as usual but were then instructed by the referee to go through the protocol of shaking hands when no music for the anthems began.

The ruling body FIFA said there was an audio system malfunction.

"FIFA and the Local Organising Committee are very sorry that the audio system for the national anthems did not function properly to play the anthems of France and Honduras. We are currently evaluating the cause of the situation and working to fix it," FIFA said.

AFP