England women's team boss and former Manchester United star Phil Neville lambasted the behaviour of the Cameroon women's team after the Lionesses' controversial 3-0 victory over the African nation at the FIFA Women's World Cup.
Neville's charges booked their spot in the quarter-finals of the World Cup with a comprehensive victory on Sunday. However, the match was marred by protests from the Cameroon team after two VAR decisions went against them.
The African side visibly displayed their disbelief at the decisions, and twice looked to be unwilling to restart the encounter.
Neville weighed in on the controversy in his post-match comments, and pulled no punches in his criticism of the opposition.
"I am completely and utterly ashamed of the opposition," he said, as per BBC Football.
"Very entertaining but for the wrong reasons – the game that had everything
"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.'"
It's been an emotional match between England and Cameroon with VAR playing a consistent role in the match. The ladies from Africa were upset with the decision to overturn what they believed was a goal early in the second half ??????????????????#FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/zhbgzcHovD
— SuperSport ?? (@SuperSportTV) June 23, 2019
The incident comes several weeks after CAF ordered the replay of the second leg of the 2019 CAF Champions League final due to VAR controversy.