England 3-0 Cameroon: England Women into World Cup quarters after ill-tempered win dominated by VAR
England Women made it through to the World Cup quarter-finals after beating Cameroon 3-0 on Sunday in a match littered with VAR controversy.
England took an early lead through Steph Houghton after she was teed up by Toni Duggan from an indirect free-kick inside the box following a Cameroon backpass (14),
before Ellen White slotted home her fourth of the tournament after a VAR review (45+3).
The review, nonetheless, bizarrely left Cameroon’s players furious having seen Duggan in an offside position on the stadium screen, despite not interfering with play.
There was more VAR controversy after the break when Ajara Nchout looked to have halved the deficit (48), but it was disallowed for a marginal offside, which caused more anger among the Cameroon players and reduced Nchout to tears.
Alex Greenwood then made it 3-0 with a neat finish from a clever Duggan corner (58), and there was time for even more late controversy as Alexandra Takounda Engolo escaped with just a yellow card, despite an on-pitch VAR review, for a wretched late challenge on Houghton in stoppage time.
The win means England set up a quarter-final clash with Norway on Thursday at 8pm in Le Havre.
Cameroon could have been down to 10 men in just the fourth minute after Yvonne Leuko’s elbow on Nikita Parris, but she was only shown a yellow card, with no VAR utilised.
England dominated the early stages and took the lead in unusual fashion as Cameroon were punished for a backpass by Augustine Ejangue; Duggan then rolled the ball back for Houghton, who found the bottom right corner through the crowd of Cameroon players on the line.
Television replays also showed Ejangue seemingly spit on Duggan’s arm as she appealed for the backpass, though it is unclear whether this was a deliberate act by the Cameroon defender and no action was taken.
Cameroon started to see more of the ball later in the half, and caused some anxiety in the England defence, but could not create a clear-cut chance as England doubled their lead in first-half stoppage time.
Lucy Bronze’s throughball to White was tucked home into the bottom left corner, and though the flag initially went up, a VAR review showed White clearly onside. Cameroon players initially accepted the decision, but upon seeing the incident on the stadium screen, protested for nearly three minutes to Chinese referee Qin Liang that Duggan was in an offside position, though she was not interfering with play.
It looked at one point like Cameroon would refuse to continue – their players had to be spoken to by a FIFA official at half-time – and their mood worsened after the break as Nchout’s first-time finish from Gabrielle Onguene’s cross was disallowed by VAR for an offside against Onguene. The players once again appeared unwilling to accept the decision, prompting tears from Nchout and more anger from coach Alain Djeumfa.
England added salt to the wound with a third as Greenwood tucked home from 10 yards after a well-worked low corner by Duggan.
The Lionesses should have built upon their lead as Jodie Taylor missed two clear opportunities, but the controversy didn’t end as a horrible late challenge by Takounda on Houghton’s ankle went to VAR. Despite it looking a clear red card offence, referee Liang showed a yellow, seemingly to pacify the Cameroon players, who were already enraged at Houghton’s reaction and Liang’s officiating.
Neville: It didn’t feel like football
Phil Neville spoke to the BBC after the game, and wasn’t happy with the behaviour of Cameroon’s players.
He said: „It didn’t feel like football, to be honest with you. We get briefings about coming on TV and saying it was a good win, and it was a good win, we played ok and we were ruthless in attack – but that wasn’t football.
„It wasn’t a World Cup last-16, in terms of the behaviour I want to see from footballers. This is going out worldwide. I can’t stand here and say I particularly enjoyed it, my players didn’t enjoy it, at half-time they were confused about the actions, what they should do.
„They kept their concentration fantastically, but with images going out worldwide about how to act, there’s young girls out there seeing that behaviour. That’s not right. We’re into the quarter-finals but there’s a bigger picture here. There’s a certain standard of behaviour you have to have. My players had that and I’m proud.“
VA-bizarre: What happened
Six separate incidents caused controversy in Valenciennes, and the decisions taken caused confusion among both teams.
Leuko’s unpunished elbow on Parris, which seemingly did not go to VAR, started things off, before Ejangue’s apparent spit on Duggan was picked up by TV cameras but not reviewed by VAR.
It must be stressed that the VAR decisions regarding White’s goal and Cameroon’s disallowed goal were technically correct, though referee Qin Liang could have held a tighter grip on the incident as Cameroon players were allowed to spend time discussing the decision in a team huddle on the pitch.
The controversy prompted jeers from the crowd, particularly for the time taken to come to each decision, with a total of 15 minutes added on in the first and second half.
England had a strong appeal for a penalty turned down by VAR at 3-0 after Leuko caught Kirby’s toe – which could have gone either way – but the late yellow card for a clear red-card offence by Takounda in stoppage time rightly left England aggrieved.
Though VAR will be criticised, it was the behaviour it prompted in the Cameroon players and head coach which was most startling, as well as referee Liang’s lack of control. Phil Neville said he had „no sympathy“ for the Cameroon players, adding „the rules are the rules“.
Soccer Accumulator Bonus
Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.
This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.
The maximum bonus that you can receive is ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.
If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:
Bet Type Bonus
14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.
If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.
If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.
Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.
In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.
All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.
.
