At times it was as chaotic as the traffic in downtown Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital, at rush hour but, when the dust finally settled, England’s “Benevolent Leader” had outsmarted the coach dubbed “Mean Dog” and the Lionesses were in the last eight.
As befits his nickname, Alain Djeumfa had choreographed a highly committed, if absurdly Kamikaze, and sometimes unintentionally comedic, performance from his so called Indomitable Lionesses. Phil Neville’s England were left with the bruises to prove it but, much more depressing, was the spitting and stamping resorted to by some of the Cameroon players.
Their overall childishness was epitomised by some petulant, borderline anarchic reactions when two VAR decisions went against them and things turned distinctly surreal.
The French may have fallen for Neville, or the guide Bienveillant as they call him here now but there was precious little courtesy or emotional intelligence – his much admired traits – out on the pitch from anyone in Cameroonian green.
Indeed there were spells when it all descended into rank farce. It was desperately unprofessional – not to mention disgraceful – on the African side’s part and horribly detrimental to the women’s game as a whole. France 2019 could desperately have done without a round of 16 encounter like this.
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Long before the end of a game which set new lows when it came to bad behaviour the Chinese referee, Qin Liang, had opted to get to the 90th minute relying on diplomacy rather than strict adherence to the letter of the law. No one could blame her and, in the circumstances, she did very well.
She seemed, rightly, terrified Cameroon would walk off the pitch and, presumably determining to preserve the tournament’s integrity, duly ignored blatant red cards. Hats off to England for retaining commendable discipline and composure in the face of some appalling provocation, cynical fouling and play-acting. After this the quarter-final against Norway in Le Havre on Thursday night may seem somewhat sedate.
It should have become 11 v 10 in the fourth, tone-setting, minute when Cameroon’s Yvonne Leuko elbowed Nikita Parris in the face as she skipped past her. Instead of sending the defender off though Liang, merely brandished a yellow card. Goodness knows why the incident was not referred to VAR.
Ten minutes later England were ahead. When Augustine Ejangue was judged to have passed the ball back to her goalkeeper, Annette Ngo Ndom, England won an indirect free-kick on the edge of the six-yard box. Cameroon responded by lining all 11 players up on the goal line but, as Toni Duggan tapped the ball to Steph Houghton, England’s captain – excellent throughout – delighted in reminding everyone why she used to be a centre-forward by directing her shot low into a chink of light exposing an unguarded few inches near the bottom corner.
Executed just as those 11 opponents charged towards Houghton, that dead ball took a while to be dispatched, with one of the reasons being Duggan’s complaint that Ejangue had spat at her. Neville later confirmed this was the case but Ejangue, who argued it was accidental, escaped an early bath.
When England were commendably poised above all else. Lucy Bronze’s neatly threaded pass – entirely typical of a highly impressive display on the right-back’s part – created their second goal for Ellen White – although celebrations were delayed until the aftermath of a VAR intervention after it was initially, incorrectly, disallowed.
Although Parris was in an offside position as White’s crisp, first-time, finish hit the back of the net, she was patently not interfering with play. Liang though had her mind changed by the VAR review and awarded the goal.
Cameroon reacted very badly, at one point gathering in the centre circle and refusing to play on. Indeed for a while it seemed they were all going to sit down in the middle of the pitch and refuse to budge. Some were crying.
The collective mood briefly seemed to improve when, early in the second half, an awful English defensive mix up permitted Nchout Ajara to connect, first time, with a cross and shoot beyond Karen Bardsley. This time the goal was initially awarded only for it to be disallowed following the VAR review. It appeared a correct but very marginal decision which left Ajara in tears. Yet again she and her teammates briefly threatened to stop playing, delaying the restart and leaving Djeumfa apparently at such a loss to know what to do that Neville briefly walked across and counselled him.
England’s first meeting with an African side since Nigeria back in 1995 was certainly proving eventful but Alex Greenwood made absolutely certain of victory, lashing the ball powerfully into the net after meeting Duggan’s low, well-worked corner.
A penalty should have followed when Fran Kirby was felled by Ysis Sonking – who really should have seen red for stamping on her foot – but Liang sensibly thought better of making such a potentially inflammatory decision.
It all concluded with Alexandra Takounda stamping on Houghton’s ankle. It was a shocking challenge and a clear dismissal but, given the extreme context, a conciliatory yellow seemed a necessary compromise. On one level it was the stuff of situation comedy – on another desperately sad.
