The referee of England's last-16 victory twice overruled the video assistant referee late on to prevent Cameroon players from abandoning the match, The Telegraph, London can reveal.

Qin Liang was concerned Cameroon would walk off the pitch when she rejected advice on a Fran Kirby penalty claim and refused to dismiss Alexandra Takounda for a scraped challenge on Steph Houghton.

It is understood that FIFA has backed Liang's decisions, too, given the ugly incidents that preceded the two decisions in a match that threatened to spiral out of control.

Augustine Ejangue had spat on Toni Duggan and the whole Cameroon team twice seemingly threatened to leave the field when two earlier VAR calls went against them.