Stunning stats from France vs Switzerland: Benzema rules the roost

France crushed Switzerland 5-2 in their second group game in Salvador. Here are some stunning stats from the match. - France’s Olivier Giroud opened the scoring for France in the 17th minute and 66 seconds later, Blaise Matuidi doubled the lead. The gap between the two goals is the smallest so far in World Cup 2014. - Karim Benzema became the first player to miss a penalty in this tournament. The previous seven were right on the mark. [caption id=“attachment_1582209” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Karim Benzema celebrates after scoring against Switzerland. Reuters[/caption] - France’s win over Switzerland meant that it produced a winner and a loser for the first time in last four matches between these two sides. The previous three ended in draws. - France have been prolific of late, they have scored eight goals so far in the competition and this is the first time since the group stages of 1998 that they have scored three plus goals in back-to-back World Cup matches. - This was the third time that France scored five plus goals at the World Cup. They won 7-3 against Paraguay and 6-3 against West Germany both in 1958. - Benzema has been the linchpin for France in this tournament. He’s in the thick of things having played a part in five of France’s eight goals. He has three goals and two assists so far. - Benzema has been prolific too, he’s found the net nine times in his last nine appearances for France. - Switzerland’s Blerim Dzemaili scored a late consolation goal via a free kick. He became the first player to score from a direct free-kick in this World Cup. - This was just the second time in the last three World Cups (2006, 2010 and 2014) a match has witnessed seven plus goals. The previous instance was Portugal beating South Korea 7-0 in 2010. Stats courtesy OptaJoe and InfoStrada