Northern Ireland boss Kenny Shiels claimed second goals in women's football come soon after the first because "women are more emotional than men".
Shiels was speaking after his side's 5-0 thrashing by England in front of a bumper 15,348 crowd at Windsor Park, as Northern Ireland's hopes of qualifying for next year's Women's World Cup were ended.
He said: "I thought they were struggling a wee bit at times to open us up until the psychology of going two up.
"In the women's game you'll have noticed if you go through the patterns, when a team concedes a goal they concede a second one within a very short period of time.
"Right through the whole spectrum of the women's game, because girls and women are more emotional than men, so they take a goal going in not very well."
Speaking on Today with Claire Byrne, Peamount United striker and RTÉ Soccer analyst Stephanie Roche was critical of Shiels' comments in blaming the concession of quick goals on the emotion of women.
"I genuinely can't believe he has come out with that. As manager of the Northern Ireland team, it would be better to come out and say they were beaten by a superior team. To blame the loss on emotional women is the worst thing I've ever heard.
"I don't know Kenny, but for him to say something like that is disrespectful. Football is a very emotional game and that (concession of quick goals) happens in the men's game and women's game. For him to talk about the defeat in the way he did, to blame it on the emotion of women, I can't believe he said that."
Roche went on to stress that teams in both genders are well aware of "not switching off" just after scoring a goal, and that it's too simplistic to say that emotion is the reason for any quick concession.
"It is a theme in games. If you're watching a game on TV, you'll often hear when after getting a goal 'now let's shut up shop, be careful on the ball, and not concede'. It does happen in football where you score a goal, then switch off for a minute and the other team come and score. I have never heard that been blamed on emotion."
This afternoon, Shiels issued a statement posted on the IFA website, apologising for his remarks, saying he was sorry for the offence caused and that he was "an advocate for the women's game."
"I wish to apologise for my comments made in the post-match press conference last night. I am sorry for the offence that they have caused.
"Last night was a special occasion for the women's game in Northern Ireland and I am proud to manage a group of players who are role models for so many girls, and boys, across the country.
"I am an advocate for the women's game and passionate about developing opportunities for women and girls to flourish."
Northern Ireland conceded three goals in the space of nine minutes against Austria on Friday.
England opened the scoring on Tuesday through Lauren Hemp in the 26th minute but Shiels' side kept the deficit to one goal at the interval before conceding four times in 27 second-half minutes.
"When we went 1-0 down we tried to slow it right down to give them time to get that emotional imbalance out of their heads. That's an issue we have," Shiels added.
"It's not just in Northern Ireland, but all countries."
Northern Ireland needed to avoid defeat against Group D leaders England to keep their slim hopes of progressing to Australia and New Zealand next year alive.
While they can still move level on points with second-placed Austria, Northern Ireland's inferior head-to-head record has extinguished any chance of leapfrogging their rivals into the only play-off berth.
Shiels added: "I can see the growth and we're getting closer but they're ranked as World Cup favourites, they haven't conceded a goal in this group, this just epitomises the magnitude of the task."
Former England Women goalkeeper Siobhan Chamberlain has described Shiels' comments that women footballers are "more emotional than men" as "bizarre".
Chamberlain told BBC Radio 5 Live: "We all know – and we get it drilled into us as footballers – the five minutes after you concede a goal, the five minutes after you score a goal across the board, not just in women’s football, in men’s football as well, you’re more likely to concede a goal, you’re more likely to potentially go on to score again.
"That’s not just in the women’s game, that’s in the men’s game as well and to just generalise that to women is a slightly bizarre comment.
"You need to kind of take a bit of responsibility of knowing the value that words can hold and when you give post-match press conferences when you’re feeling emotional after a big game, it’s important to make sure that you’re speaking sensibly and are aware of the message that your words can carry."
