Uruguay's forward Luis Suarez celebrates after scoring a second goal during a Group D football match between Uruguay and England at the Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo during the 2014 FIFA World Cup on June 19, 2014. AFP PHOTO / JUAN BARRETO |
If there were mosquitoes in England, the Three Lions would have known how to deal with this irritant called Luis Suarez.
And, Suarez’s employer at Liverpool is not English either. Were John Henry English, he would have exercised Luciano Gaucci nationalist law— just fire the guy who bites the hand that feeds him. Gaucci is that former president of AC Peruggia, who infamously fired South Korean player Ahn Jung-hwan for bundling home the goal that eliminated Italy from the 2002 Fifa World Cup.
“That gentleman will never set foot in Perugia again. He was a phenomenon only when he played against Italy,” Gaucci was quoted by daily Gazzetta dello Sport.
Apparently, Jung-hwan had been quoted saying South Korean football is superior to Italy’s. It infuriated Gaucci, who responded: “I am a nationalist and I regard such behaviour not only as an affront to Italian pride but also an offence to a country which two years ago opened its doors to him. I have no intention of paying a salary to someone who has ruined Italian football.”
It is difficult not think the same feeling was welling up inside the bellies of English fans inside Arena de Sao Paolo on Thursday evening as Liverpool hit man, Suarez, ripped the Union Jack into tatters. Suarez, despite lacking match fitness looked fitter. Why did he not play against Costa Rica in Uruguay’s 3-1 loss?
Incidentally, Suarez’s first goal— an angled header flew in the direction of thousands of England fans behind Joe Hart’s goal like an arrow right in between their eyes. Then he wheeled away planting kisses on his wrist. The second goal was that of a poacher par excellence. An inadvertent flick from Steven Gerrard dropped in front of the Uruguayan, whose first touch invited a thunderbolt from his right foot.
Well, that is football. A team can stop such top players by maintaining tactical discipline or simply man-marking them.
What England could not stop, and it is doubtful whether any team can, is Suarez’s irritating behaviour off the ball.
Although Suarez denied he was on a revenge mission, he took great exception with England manager’s comments before the game when asked if he thought the striker was a world-class player.
“He (Suárez) will only be at that level when he shows it on this particular stage,” Hodgson had said. That was enough for Suarez to bear his fangs at the English.
“It wasn’t revenge, but in England they talked about the injury and the coach had words that annoyed me,” Suárez told Uruguayan website Tenfield.
Except for the two goals, he had a quiet game by his standards, but he was full of his usual self.
Niggly, belligerent, and outrageous in the manner he took free-kicks and corners often bordering on disrespect like when he attempted to lob Hart from distance.
Twice, perhaps off the view of the cameras, Suarez kicked the ball farther away from where he had been tripped.
Later as England pressed for an equalizer, he walked back into the pitch with a ball and dropped it in the box pretending he was trying to save time yet Hart had already taken a goal kick.
It seemed justice had been served when Wayne Rooney tapped in the equaliser. Little did the world know that the Uruguayan would serve justice, the Suarez way. For, in a blink of an eye, the ball looked for him and with the power of a bazooka, the Uruguayan thumped home the winner.
Later in the press conference he said: “For all the moments that I’ve lived and the criticisms we’ve received...there you have it.”
He could as well have repeated it when Costa Rica beat Italy.