Fans convinced Women’s World Cup is ‘rigged’ after controversial decision that works against England

FANS joked the Women's World Cup is "rigged" after a controversial decision - that went against England.

The Lionesses have started their campaign in Australia and New Zealand with 1-0 wins over Haiti and Denmark.

And they would have booked their place in the knockout stages if China failed to beat Haiti.

The Asian nation were leading 1-0 going into injury time thanks to Wang Shuang's 74th-minute penalty - despite being down to ten players following  Zhang Rui's red card just before the half-hour mark.

But Haiti - and England fans watching on ITV at home - were convinced the Caribbean island were denied a spot-kick of their own in stoppage time.

Haiti forward Roseline Eloissaint tried to take the ball down in the area.

But China defender Chen Qiaozhu clambered over her opponent and headed clear.

Referee Marta Huerta de Aza went over to the pitchside VAR monitor - but decided there was nothing wrong with the challenge from Qiaozhu.

Haiti had earlier seen two other penalty appeals waved away for strong challenges in the China box.

And supporters flooded social media with claims the Fifa tournament had been fixed to help China - with comments of "robbed" and "disgrace".

One said: "This World Cup is rigged - that's the third penalty for Haiti not called."

Another wrote: "Nah that Haiti-China women's game is rigged. Obvious penalty last minute."

A third added: "That wasn’t a penalty? The international campaign against Haiti continues."

A fourth commented: "Hard not to feel heartbroken for Haiti. Honestly cannot understand how they didn't get a penalty on at least one of those three (!) possible fouls - and not even a VAR check on one."

And a final user replied: "The refereeing in the China-Haiti match was awful. Two or three clear penalties in that match and VAR didn't step in at all. A shambles or match-fixing?"

It is the latest chaos involving VAR after the referee in Spain's win over Zambia had to publicly make a huge U-turn to announce a goal.

China held on for nine minutes of injury time to secure their first win at the World Cup - and keep their hopes of reaching the knockout stages alive.

However, they must better Denmark's result against Haiti when they face England on Tuesday.

Sarina Wiegman's masterstroke to bring Lauren James into the starting XI reaped its rewards within six minutes against Denmark.

But the win was marred by a serious injury to midfield star Keira Walsh, who appeared to suffer significant damage to her knee when making an interception just before half-time.