England boss Phil Neville said he was “ashamed” by Cameroon’s behaviour after a World Cup last-16 victory he said “didn’t feel like football”.
The Lionesses booked a quarter-final spot against Norway after a 3-0 win.
But the game was marred by Cameroon’s extraordinary reaction to two video assistant referee decisions and several poor challenges on England’s players.
“I am completely and utterly ashamed of the opposition,” Neville said.
“When I started in management, I think it was Arsene Wenger that told me: The team mirror the manager.
“If that was my team – and it will never be any of my players – they would never play for England again, with that kind of behaviour.
“At times, we probably didn’t know whether the game would continue.
“It didn’t feel like football. It was a good win but that wasn’t a World Cup last-16 tie in terms of behaviour that I want to see from footballers.
“This is going out worldwide. I didn’t enjoy it, the players didn’t enjoy it. My players kept their concentration fantastically, but those images are going out worldwide about how to act, the young girls playing all over the world that are seeing that behaviour. For me, it’s not right.
“My daughter wants to be a footballer and if she watches that she will think: ‘No, I want to play netball.'”
The game witnessed two moments of controversy early on when Yvonne Leuko was booked for an apparent elbow on England winger Nikita Parris, before Augustine Ejangue appeared to spit on Toni Duggan after the free-kick that led to Steph Houghton’s opener.
Both England players said they didn’t think there was any malice or intention behind those incidents.
And they were overshadowed just before half-time when the Cameroon players refused to re-start the game after Ellen White’s VAR-awarded second goal.
White’s goal was initially ruled out for offside, but that decision was changed, leading to the Cameroon side’s protests and a delay of several minutes.
