England players argued with the referee after Aurelien Tchouameni opened the scoring for France in the World Cup quarter-final clash in Qatar. Arsenal star Bukayo Saka was seemingly fouled in the build-up to Les Bleus' opening goal but VAR did not rule the strike out.
Gareth Southgate and Didier Deschamps both named an unchanged team with both teams hoping to reach the semi-finals of the tournament. The Three Lions have reached a semi-final and final in their last two major international tournament campaigns.
England started the match well but themselves a goal down in the 17th minute following Tchouameni's strike from distance. Harry Kane had a good shout for a penalty kick but VAR deemed that there was not enough contact for the referee to award a spot kick to England.
READ MORE: England vs France LIVE: Latest score as Tchouameni gets controversial opener
Former referee Peter Walton has explained why VAR did not rule out France's goal after Saka was fouled in the build-up to Tchouameni's opener. Speaking on ITV's coverage of the match, Walton said: "They [VAR] could’ve went back and looked at it, in fact I think they did because it was the same attacking phase of play that France won the ball to the goal being scored.
"The issue is, was it a foul? I don’t think it was because he’s gone down very easily on the slightest of touches.
"We’ve not actually seen the replays. But that’s my opinion, he’s gone down too easily for the VAR to say he made a clear and obvious error."
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