Lucy Bronze was baffled by the use of VAR during England’s win over China and has joked the only way she could have not been pinged for a handball was by cutting her arm off.
The Lionesses booked their spot in the last-16 of the Women’s World Cup on Tuesday by topping Group D with a 6-1 win over China.
China’s only goal came from the penalty spot after VAR intervened and told referee Casey Reibelt to check a possible handball by Bronze in the box.
After going over to the pitch-side monitor, Reibelt gave the spot-kick and Bronze, who did not shake the referee’s hand after the match, was left perplexed by the decision.
“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,” said Bronze.
“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.
“I knew it wasn’t deliberate but I guess she just wanted to give me a yellow card for fun.”
The VAR decision was one of number that went against England as they cruised into the knockout stages to set up a showdown with Nigeria in Brisbane on Monday.
A hair-pull on Alessia Russo also went unpunished, while Lauren James was denied a hat-trick because Bronze was offside in the build-up to a wonder strike from the Chelsea forward.
“I’m sad for LJ because I don’t know why it’s been called for offside,” said Bronze. “If Hempo (Lauren Hemp) scored the cross I wouldn’t have been offside.
“They (the China defender) deliberately played it (the ball). I said that at the time, I said that to the referee: ‘I don’t know why you’ve given me offside’.
“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.
“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. The most important thing is we won, we’re through to the next game, no one else got injured.
“Playing for England you tend to know that sometimes decisions don’t go your way and luckily enough for us we finished the game off ourselves. I do think LJ’s goal should have stood, she should have had a hat-trick, it would have been a huge moment for her, in her first World Cup to score a hat-trick for England.”
