Uruguay v Italy Review
It was another remarkable day’s action in the World Cup and For the second trounament in a row, following his hand ball in South Africa, Luis Suarez aka the Beaver, finds himself embroiled in further controversy having clearly taken a bite out of Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini during yesterday’s crunch(y)encounter which saw the Uruguayan’s emerge with a 1.0 victory thanks to Diego Godin’s fine header deep into the second half. The first thing to say is that it is pretty clear from the TV pictures that Suarez is guilty of the crime and given his past history it would seem fair to assume that once again he has totally lost control of his actions and committed an offence that is sure to end his World Cup and will certainly cast doubts on the future of his career at Liverpool and beyond. A fine player no doubt, verging on genius and without doubt world class, it is reasonable to assume that any notion Barcelona or Real Madrid had of pursuing the striker this summer will have been discarded after one of the most foolish crimes ever committed at a World Cup and his subsequent reaction in holding his teeth (almost comical in its shamelessness) and the denials that were to follow only served to shame further this ever so flawed man. There can be no excuses for Suarez now and the pathetic manner in which the Uruguayans have attempted to defend their player is perhaps worse than the crime itself. Here is the reaction of coach Tabarez: “"This is a football World Cup - it's not about morality, cheap morality". "As we say in Uruguay, there are people who are hiding behind a tree waiting for someone to make a mistake. Suarez, despite mistakes he might have made, is a target of certain media, of press." So football is not about cheap morality according to the coach? ...what a sad indictment it is for the sport that a manager of a team in the last 16 of the World Cup can ridicule the notion that morality and football can have nothing in common. It would seem the days of respect and integrity have long since departed our game if this is how the manager of a national team can respond to such an incident and perpetuates a sadness that in the 21st century, the only thing that seems to matter now is winning. Sporting behaviour is now no longer deemed relevant in the chase for glory, at least according to the Uruguayan’s and their manager who have been for many years, known for their gamesmanship and win at all cost attitude and it showed itself up again, not just in the bite, but in the spineless, distasteful and pathetic response which attempts to cast the blame on the English media. Now I am no great fan of the press in the UK and it is clear that for a while at least, Suarez was public enemy number one for his transgressions and yes it is very much true that our media like to crucify our celebrities should they step out of line or even when they don’t but in the case of Suarez, he has always brought it onto himself and the notion that he is being scapegoated by our media is nothing short of fanciful and actually brings the game into disrepute. It is one thing to bite an opponent (for a 3rd time in your career) but another thing entirely for his manager to claim that football is not about cheap morality. Frankly speaking, you just have to say, what a bunch of dickheads. Really, there is just no other way to describe the characters involved in this shameful episode. The Uruguayans are traditionally once of the dirtiest teams to enter the World Cup and Scotland fans will recall how their side was kicked off the park by a particularly rough house Uruguayan outfit back in 1986 and it seems, almost 30 years later that their win at all cost attitude remains in place and manifests itself in the shameful conduct of players and coaching staff who should grow up and bring themselves into the 21st century. It really sickens me that the Uruguayans attempt to paint this as some kind of UK lead conspiracy against their “wonderful man” (these were the words of the coach a few days ago) Luis Suarez who has been vilified by a horrible English media for opening his mouth and allowing the disgraceful Italian defender to leave his shoulder open to the warm affections of a beautiful player...what a lot of complete and utter nonsense. Yes Suarez has been the target of some aggressive journalism in England, but at no point does that ever excuse the conduct of a player who has been no stranger to controversy throughout his career and who time after time, fails to learn his lessons. This is his 3rd bite on a fellow pro and combined with the racially aggravated abuse he dished out to Patrice Evra, you have to wonder if this time there will be no second chances or third chances or in the case of this misguided genius, a 4th or 5th. Who’s counting? Only yesterday he spoke about silencing the UK media who he claims deride him for his “bad attitude” and asked the question, what would they say to him now, following his 2 goal salvo against England? Well Luis...I think you know the answer to that by now. Goals do not shape a man’s character, no matter how sexy the strikes. The complete lack of self awareness and irony in his words could not have been brought further into context following this incident yesterday and it really is staggering to think that he can apportion the blame onto others and fail to accept the responsibility for the mistakes he so frequently makes. Here he was on the greatest stage in the sporting world and for no apparent reason, decides to bite an opponent in full view of the world’s gaze. It simply boggles the mind that anyone could be so stupid and while there is no doubt that it is a terrible shame that we are likely to be deprived of seeing Suarez’s wonderful footballing ability again in this competition, it is without question that he deserves to be punished severely and is likely to receive a huge ban from FIFA. His tournament is done, there can be little doubt about that now and it would appear that his career in England is in further jeopardy and whether the likes of Real Madrid or Barcelona (rumoured summer transfer destinations) will want anything more to do with him is entirely doubtful as well. There should be no redemption for a man unwilling to accept his mistakes and apologise with conviction and integrity and do something to change his behaviour and no amount of 40 yard screamers will do anything to change that, despite what Luis seems to think. Suarez has struggled to understand the concept that goals do not equate to character redemption and while undeniably talented, he is grossly disliked, not just for the crimes he commits, but for his reaction in the aftermath with a refusal to admit to his mistakes further aiding to his lack of popularity and his refusal to shake the hand of Patrice Evra following their racially aggravated bust up which resulted in the 10 match ban for Suarez two years ago further illustrated this is a man who cannot accept the mistakes he makes and is only too willing to further smear his reputation. The only thing we can assume is that this is a very badly educated, and let’s be honest, stupid man who simply cannot control his actions in the heat of the moment and who deserves nothing but scorn from the press and public alike for his brutality, his insincerity and the complete lack of self awareness that perpetuates both his actions and his responses. It is a real sadness for this tournament that all of the positive emotion and joy of the last 2 weeks can be drained away and pushed into the shadows because of the behaviour of one very stupid man and the response from one very stupid coach who simply refuses to accept that his star striker is nothing more than a spoiled, stupid little brat, who cannot control the pea-brained responses to provocation or pressure. For Suarez, his tournament will be finished by FIFA in the upcoming 48 hours and another huge smear has been stamped onto his resume, never to be forgotten. There can be no redemption for a man who continually commits the kind of offences that go beyond the average misdemeanours of your regular football player. The fact is he is not brave enough to accept his but surely now he will have to accept the consequences that result from his latest in a line of misbehaviours and I really hope FIFA throw the book at him and hand up an unprecedentedly long ban. This is not a first offence and when an offence like this is committed on the biggest stage, it should carry a respectively large punishment and anything under 10 games would be illogical. Suarez will never learn but these kind of infirgements cannot be tolerated or treated lightly and his sentence should be longer unless he is willing to admit to his guilt. What a terrible shame for a player so elegant with the ball but so moronic with his head and this latest disaster for Suarez is surely the biggest mistake he has ever made on a football field. As for the bets, it was a decent night overall with my Uruguay to win tip coming home at 19/10 as well as BTTS in Colombia v Japan and Jackson Martinez also found the net twice while I also tipped the English to draw with Costa Rica. The Colombians look fantastic well, and I will be steamrolling into them to see of Uruguay minus Suarez at 6/5 odds to win in 90 minutes. Without their main man, the Uruguayans will struggle to contain a Colombia who look like genuine threats for the title and in James Rodriguez they have a player fast becoming one of or perhaps the star of this tournament. Greece pulled off a shock win over Ivory Coast with a last gasp penalty by former Celtic man Giorgios Samaras and it was no more than the Greeks deserved against a desperately poor Ivory Coast. Once again an African team shows a complete lack of shape and ability and the fact they were still trying to score in the minute before they gave away a 91st minute penalty when all they needed was a point to qualify only underlines their lack of professionalism. A team packed full of experience chose not to defend their lead in the dying moments and how they paid the price. A last 16 match with Costa Rica awaits for Greece and noone could have imagined that. As for Suarez, it’s a sorry tale of woe at the end of a season that had been the finest in his career and he will be left to regret that he may never again have the opportunity to lead his team in a World cup tie again. Comments are closed.
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