Women's World Cup: England advances as Cameroon enraged by VAR calls
Cameroon was enraged by a couple of VAR calls as its Women's World Cup campaign ended with a 3-0 defeat to England in Valenciennes.
Published : Jun 23, 2019 23:27 IST
Ellen White added to her goals tally to become England's joint-leading scorer at the Women's World Cup and guide her side into the quarterfinal with a 3-0 win over Cameroon, who was enraged by a couple of VAR calls.
England advanced through Group D with three wins from three and it was a comfortable winner in Valenciennes to set up a last-eight tie with Norway on Thursday.
Stephanie Houghton opened the scoring 14 minutes in from an indirect free-kick and White scored for the fourth time in this year's competition - her fifth overall in the finals, equal with Fara Williams - before Alex Greenwood rounded off the scoring to send England on their way.
READ | As it happened: England preys on Cameroon to set up last-8 clash with Norway
But the win was not without controversy as Cameroon was furious with the decision for England's key second goal to stand, with its players initially refusing to restart the match and then leave the field at half-time, and there were tears early in the second half when it had a goal ruled out for a marginal offside - again leading to pitchside protests.
The first competitive meeting between the sides was a feisty encounter, with Yvonne Leuko getting away with what appeared to be a deliberate elbow on Nikita Parris and Augustine Ejangue avoiding punishment for spitting in the direction of Lucy Bronze.
England kept its heads and took advantage of an indirect free-kick awarded seven yards from goal for Aurelle Awona's back-pass to keeper Annette Ngo Ndom - Houghton picking out the bottom corner of the net after being teed up by Toni Duggan.
White then added a second with a good finish into the corner once played through by Bronze, which was allowed to stand after initially being ruled out for offside.
ALSO READ | Host France seeks to clear Brazilian hurdle
Cameroon, who argued England had another player in an offside position, was further angered five minutes into the second half as Gabrielle Onguene was marginally offside when cutting the ball back for Ajara Nchout to strike past Karen Bardsley from 12 yards.
And Greenwood put the game out of reach just before the hour mark when left unmarked from a corner to power a low shot through a crowd of players.
England nearly added to its tally but it was denied a penalty by VAR 13 minutes from time for Ysis Sonkeng's challenge on Fran Kirby and Estelle Johnson cleared substitute Jodie Taylor's chipped shot off the line.