Phil Neville 'Utterly Ashamed' of Cameroon Attitude in World Cup Loss to England

England women's manager Phil Neville has said he was "utterly ashamed" of Cameroon's behaviour during their 3-0 defeat to the Lionesses on Sunday, which saw them exit the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Cameroon qualified for the round of 16 for the second tournament running but gave a poor account against Neville's side. They refused to restart the match for a period after disagreeing with an England goal that was given after a video assistant referee check, along with numerous other incidents over their attitude.

The England coach said he had no sympathy for the eliminated team following their defeat, via Match of the Day (UK only):

Neville even went so far as to say the performance "wasn't football" at times, via Fox Soccer (U.S. only):

The England boss said:

"I am completely and utterly ashamed of the opposition. When I started in management, I think it was Arsene Wenger that told me: The team mirror the manager.

"If that was my team - and it will never be any of my players - they would never play for England again, with that kind of behaviour.

"At times, we probably didn't know whether the game would continue. It didn't feel like football. It was a good win but that wasn't a World Cup last-16 tie in terms of behaviour that I want to see from footballers."

Steph Houghton, Ellen White and Alex Greenwood provided the goals to send England through to the World Cup quarter-finals, where they'll take on Norway following the Grasshoppers' penalty shootout win over Australia.

White's strike was initially flagged for offside, but a VAR check proved she was onside and gave the goal. Cameroon responded by refusing to take kick-off for a time and exhibited questionable behaviour throughout.

One of the more shocking incidents saw midfielder Jeannette Yango run into referee Qin Liang without much effort to stop, via FourFourTwo:

Neville spoke of Cameroon's behaviour as a poor example to the next generation:

"This is going out worldwide. I didn't enjoy it, the players didn't enjoy it. My players kept their concentration fantastically, but those images are going out worldwide about how to act, the young girls playing all over the world that are seeing that behaviour. For me, it's not right.

"My daughter wants to be a footballer and if she watches that she will think: 'No, I want to play netball.'"

Luke Edwards of the Telegraph echoed Neville's sentiments and said Cameroon showed some of the "worst, most petulant and possibly damaging behaviour seen at a World Cup."

England forward Nikita Parris and scorer Houghton were subject to some of the most physical challenges from the opposition, while Augustine Ejangue appeared to spit on Toni Duggan, per ESPN UK:

The Lionesses are sure to face a more difficult task when they come up against Norway in the last eight on Thursday.