SheBelieves Cup: Ellen White still ‘can’t stand VAR’ after World Cup decision
England striker Ellen White says she still “can’t stand video assistant referees” after having a goal ruled out in the World Cup semi-final defeat by the USA last summer.
White thought she had equalised to make it 2-2 in the second half before VAR deemed her to be marginally offside.
USA went on to win 2-1 after Steph Houghton had a late penalty saved and centre-back Millie Bright was sent off.
“I do sit at home and think ‘ahh, I just can’t stand VAR!’,” said White.
“My husband will say the same thing! It’s frustrating. I still get a lot of people saying stuff about VAR. It really irritates me but it is what it is – that’s just football.”
England play the USA in Thursday’s SheBelieves Cup match in Orlando (Friday, 00:00 GMT).
England also face Spain and Japan in the round-robin event in America this week, travelling to New Jersey and then Texas after their opening match against world champions USA in Florida.
“Everywhere was about them winning”
The hurt of last year’s World Cup defeat is still fresh in the minds of several England players, including Houston Dash star Rachel Daly.
The versatile player could replace Lucy Bronze at right-back for the game against the USA and she hopes “to be on the receiving end of what the USA were getting” following their success over England last summer.
“Everywhere was about them winning,” said Daly. “There were billboards everywhere.
“Walking into the airport, the first thing I see is ‘welcome home USA – world champions’. Then they did all the parades.
“It was literally everywhere. It was kind of in your face.”
A record 11.7m viewers watched England’s semi-final defeat on BBC TV and Daly says fans have been coming out in numbers to watch the US champions in National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) matches.
“It’s hard when I’m playing for my club and when [Reign FC] came into town we would get more fans because Megan Rapinoe was there,” said Daly.
“That was frustrating because we don’t have a US women’s national team player on our team. People would show up just for her and I’m thinking ‘I wish they were coming for me because we won the World Cup’.”
