Follow England vs Cameroon with our live blog on skysports.com and the Sky Sports app; Kick-off at 4.30pm on Sunday
Saturday 22 June 2019 20:26, UK
England head coach Phil Neville admits he is surprised FIFA has decided to change the law relating to goalkeepers coming off their line at penalties midway through the Women's World Cup.
The International Football Association Board accepted the governing body's request for a temporary dispensation from the rule which sees goalkeepers booked if they encroach from their line at a spot-kick following a number of controversial incidents in the group stage of the tournament.
Neville, speaking ahead of the Lionesses' last-16 tie against Cameroon in Valenciennes on Sunday, initially appeared stumped by the question, before conceding he was surprised by the late change to the rules.
"It is a surprise, but we are best speaking about that after the World Cup, my true thoughts on a few things," he said.
"We have just got to get on with it, the rules are the rules. There is nothing we can do with it, the goalkeepers have just got to deal with it.
"I have got three goalkeepers who are probably really frustrated and disappointed and can't see the reasoning behind it, but we have just got to accept it."
The temperature in Valenciennes is expected to nudge 30C on Sunday, but, with England having already faced similar temperatures in their victories over Scotland and Japan in Nice and with warm-weather training forming part of their World Cup preparations, Neville insists the heat will not be used as an excuse against Cameroon.
"We have to respect the weather but we've prepared for that," added Neville.
"There will be no excuses in terms of us going into a game where they say it will be upwards of 29C.
"We have prepared for that for the last 40 days. The heat and acclimatisation we went through at St George's Park was really thorough and it was part of the training programme.
"The two games we have had in Nice have been really warm, so we are used to that now.
"The temperature in Le Havre was much better for us to play our type of football but when you have hot weather you just have to make sure you pass the ball even better and that is what we will try to do."
Neville also noted how the Women's World Cup has been more strongly promoted in the north of France compared to the south, something that has seen encouraging attendance figures in Le Havre - where England beat Argentina 1-0 - and in Valenciennes.
"The World Cup is more visible in the north of France than it is in the south," he said.
"We've been in Nice for about 15 days and in certain areas, you probably wouldn't know there's a World Cup going on.
"But when you come to the north, the streets are decked out in flags, there are signs to the stadiums on the path and there's a real World Cup feeling.
"It's no surprise that probably Le Havre and Valenciennes have had the best attendances because it's visible, it's in people's faces, it's what a World Cup should be like.
"Ideally we would like to stay in the north...but the sun's in the south!"
Follow England vs Cameroon with our live blog on skysports.com and the Sky Sports app; Kick-off at 4.30pm on Sunday
