Women's World Cup 2015: Laura Bassett wants players protected
- Published
Women's World Cup on the BBC |
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England defender Laura Bassett hopes the Women's World Cup sees no repeats of the unpunished elbow incident that left her with a black eye.
The 32-year-old Notts County player was caught by France striker Camille Abily in England's 1-0 defeat on Tuesday.
But the referee did not penalise Abily, Fifa did not review the incident and the Football Association did not contest Fifa's decision.
"It's out of my control, the FA have to do what they deem best," said Bassett.
"I just hope no one else in the tournament is on the receiving end of this."
England boss Mark Sampson was furious about Abily's elbow and said Greek referee Thalia Mitsi had "let down" England and Bassett after being told by Fifa that players would be protected during the tournament.
Fifa said they would not use retrospective action for the second-half incident because the referee had seen it and had already made her decision.
Bassett can see the funny side now after being teased for her black eye, which occurred as she won her 50th cap for England in front of her watching parents.
"My mum said 'it looks like you just can't apply your make-up' - everyone has been getting on board and abusing me," she joked.
But the former Birmingham and Chelsea player added: "When it happened I was just concentrating on the ball. She jumps higher but her elbow does make contact with my cheek.
"I wasn't that happy with the contact, I think you can tell by my reaction on the video.
"I just hope if this happens again it is not missed."
England are bottom of Group F after taking a defensive approach against France but play Mexico on Saturday after they drew 1-1 with Colombia in their World Cup opener.
Sampson's team are ranked sixth in the world, while Mexico are 25th with Colombia three places below them.
"We have to take the shackles off and show everyone a good performance," Bassett said.
"They have some good individuals who we hopefully can nullify. We need to stay compact and offer a really good show ourselves."
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