In what looks a discriminatory carriage of justice, England’s Lauren James has been handed the normal mandatory two-match ban for deliberately stamping on Nigeria’s Michelle Alozie in last Monday’s Round of 16 match.
This is in contrast to the three-match ban given Nigeria’s Deborah Abiodun who was given a three-match ban after being red-carded for an unintentional foul on Canada’s Ashley Lawrence.
Abiodun missed the mandatory two matches against Australia and Ireland and had additional sanction as the number of matches she was made to miss was increased to three, although she apologised for the foul on the Canadian.
She thus missed the match against England. Lauren James’ two-match ban means that she will miss England’s Women’s World Cup quarter-final tie against Colombia and the semi-finals, if England progress.
“The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has imposed a two-match suspension on England’s player Lauren James…,” FIFA said in a statement.
“The suspension will be served for the FIFA Women’s World Cup quarter-final and the next international fixture following that.”
England face Colombia on Saturday. The Football Association (FA) declined to comment on the suspension.
The post While Nigeria’s Abiodun got three-match ban for unintentional foul, England’s James gets two-match ban for intentional foul on Alozie first appeared on Sports Village Square.
