Lucy Bronze fell victim to two odd refereeing decisions as England beat China in the crunch final Group D game at the Women’s World Cup and let the official know by refusing to shake hands.
Bronze was adjudged to be offside in one instance that ended up ruling out a potential Lauren James hat-trick. Another decision saw the England wing-back shown a yellow card and give away a penalty for an alleged handball that baffled both her and all of social media.
In the end, the goal that Wang Shuang scored from the spot to make it 3-1, before England added three more goals of their own, didn’t matter. But that soft yellow also means Bronze is now walking a suspension tightrope ahead of the knockout rounds – cards are only wiped after the quarter-finals.
Having already scored once, James’ would be second goal of the evening was ruled out because Bronze was originally in an offside position behind the Chinese defenders. But she had moved onside in the immediate next passage of play, which led to James finding the top corner. However, referee Casey Reibelt, with help from the VAR team, chalked off the goal for the earlier offside.
“I’m sad for LJ because I don’t know why it’s been called for offside,” the Barcelona defender said, speaking after the match. “If Hempo scored the [first] cross, I wouldn’t have been offside.”
“I do think LJ’s goal should have stood, she should have had a hatitrick; it would have been a huge moment for her, in her first World Cup, to score a hat-trick for England.
“[China] deliberately played it. I said that at the time, I said that to the referee: ‘I don’t know why you’ve given me offside.'”
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Also reflecting on England’s wider progress, Beonze aded: “I think tonight was a little bit easier, but personally, I had more go against me than anyone else. It wasn’t a fun game in that respect so, I was quite disappointed with that game to come off with that performance.”
That offside was only one of the decisions that went against Bronze during the game. She also wasn’t happy with the penalty that was awarded against her, allowing China to become the first team to score against England at this World Cup when Wang converted.
“I knew it hit my hand, but it wasn’t deliberate, unless I cut my arm off I don’t know how I get my arm out the way,” she said jokingly.
“Again, we sit down with referees every tournament to discuss the rules, the rules are if I’m trying to put my hand next to my body…I said to the girls she’s going to give the penalty because it hits my hand, but Mary [Earps] was behind me; if I was trying to hit the ball away, I would have hit my hand in the air,” Bronze explained.
“I knew it wasn’t deliberate but I guess she just wanted to give me a yellow card for fun.
“Playing for England, you tend to know that sometimes decisions don’t go your way, and luckily, we finished the game off ourselves.”
Whilst the decision making did not go Bronze’s way, as one of the senior players in the team, the 31-year-old maintained a cool head despite the decision being a frustrating one for the full back who operated as a wingback during the game.
“As a team it’s something we’ve been through before. At the last World Cup we went through an even more interesting game with VAR and the opposition and refereeing decisions,” she continued.
“The most important thing is we won, we’re through to the next game, no one else got injured,” she added, referring to the knee injury Keira Walsh sustained in the previous fixture agaisnt Denmark.
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