Dramatically, England’s women retook the lead at Wembley against the USA after Lucy Bronze was kicked in her face.
The England and Barcelona defender went down with the game tied when USA’s Hailie Mace sent a high boot into her face as the visiting side tried to clear their lines.
It was an exciting first half. The European champions were faced by the World champions, with Lauren Hemp’s opener being cancelled out by the USA’s Sophia Smith.
Just a few moments later, however, the controversy struck when Bronze was taken down with injuries.
The European championship was left on her stomach, with referee Riemhussein allowing play to continue. England fans were furious.
The US tried to attack again, but VAR intervened. Hussein then went to the monitor.
After a brief glance, the German official issued England a penalty. Much to the delight of the Wembley crowd and the Lionesses, who were trying to regain control, they looked at England.
But Mace was only awarded a yellow card, despite replays showing her boot making direct contact with Bronze’s face.
Stanway converted the penalty as cool as possible, sending the ball into bottom right corner.
England thought that their redemption was over when Trinity Rodman found the net shortly after England had gone 2-1 up.
After another VAR review, however, the goal was narrowly chalked for offside.
For Ian Wright, a former England football star, however, this was a bad decision.
“This is not what VAR is for,” he said on ITV, “This is ridiculous. How can they be disallowing these kind of goals man?”
