For the unintiated here is a summary of the events:
In the dying seconds of extra time Ghana had a free-kick close to the Uruguayan Penalty area. The ball was lofted in and a bit of pinball ensued resulting in a red card for Luis Suarez being sent off for hand-ball on the goal line. Ghana had a penalty which they missed and Uruguay went through on the resultant penalty shoot out.
Now I just want to put the above events in to perspective: Luis Suarez scored 49 goals last season for Ajax Amsterdam. A tremendous feat which underlines his obvious quality. Now this bloke certainly doesn't need to cheat to win matches on that form. However he deliberately hand-balled in the box to stop a certain goal. In fact he pushed the ball away with two hands. Happened before and it will happen again I know. However lets look at what it meant to Ghana...
Dominic Adiyiah is an 18 year old lad who plays for AC Milan reserves. He came off the bench only to see his goalbound effort pushed out of the goal by an outfield player. When you bear in mind that this was a certain goal and it would have propelled his team in to the semi-final of the world cup it's a big deal. But not only that. No African team has ever been beyond the quarter-final stage of the world cup. Not only would this 18 year old boy have been elevated to national hero and probably the AC Milan first team. He would have been a hero for all of Africa. It would have been a continental acheivement and one man's actions shattered those dreams in an instant.
Here's what the Uruguayan Manager Oscar Taberez had to say after the game:
"When there is a handball in the penalty area there is a red card and the player is thrown out of the game. Saying we cheated Ghana is too harsh a word to use. We also abide by what the referee did. It could have been a mistake. Yes he stuck his hand out, but it's not cheating. I don't think it's fair to say that. I think it was instinctive. The player instinctively reacted and was thrown out of the match and he can't play the next match. What else do you want? Is Suarez also to blame for Ghana missing the penalty? We try to be dignified and if we lose a match we look for the reasons for it. You shouldn't look to third parties. This is football. There are consequences to that handball and he didn't know that Ghana was going to miss that penalty."
Here's the post match comments of Luis Suarez:
"The Hand of God now belongs to me. Mine is the real Hand Of God," said Suárez. "I made the best save of the tournament. Sometimes in training I play as a goalkeeper so it was worth it. There was no alternative but for me to do that and when they missed the penalty I thought 'It is a miracle and we are alive in the tournament'. Now we are in the semi-finals although I was very sad because no one likes to be sent off. The celebration afterwards was impressive, but very quiet because nobody gave us a chance but, with courage, we move forward."
So your manager comes out and defends you and you come out screaming I'm a big cheat and I don't care.
This really made me sick and this sort of cheating is a blight on football. I personally would like to see a 6 month international ban to give a warning to other players but it's not going to happen. He will miss one match. If Uruguay beat Holland and go through he will be eligible to play in the World Cup Final.
Upsets me this does
