SAO PAULO: He’s a player of unquestionable talent. But Luis Suarez’s flair comes with a tendency to bite opponents.
The latest biting incident came in Uruguay’s 1-0 win over Italy in Natal on Tuesday when he apparently chewed on Giorgio Chiellini’s shoulder.
Mexican referee Marco Antonio Rodriguez Moreno took no action despite Chiellini exposing his shoulder to show the scar.
Moments later Diego Godin scored the winner but the Suarez incident overshadowed Uruguay’s progress into the last-16 at Italy’s expense from Group ‘D’ and FIFA said on Wednesday it had opened disciplinary proceedings against the Liverpool striker.
The 27-year-old has already been banned twice during his club career for biting incidents.
He was handed a 10-match ban in April 2013 for putting his teeth into the arm of Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic during an English Premier League match.
In a similar incident three years earlier during his time with Dutch giants Ajax, he was banned for seven matches for leaving a scar on the shoulder of PSV Eindhoven’s Ottman Bakkal.
This time his bite came with the glare of the world on the game. And maybe this time Suarez has bit off more than he can chew.
“FIFA can confirm that disciplinary proceedings have been opened against the player Luis Suarez of Uruguay following an apparent breach of FIFA’s Disciplinary Code,” world football’s governing body said in a news release on Wednesday.
“The player and/or the Uruguayan FA are invited to provide their position and any documentary evidence they deem relevant until 25 June 2014, 5pm, Brasilia time.”
Suarez seemed to take on the criticism of his actions in his stride. “These are just things that happen out on the pitch,” he told Uruguayan TV reporters after the match. “It was just the two of us inside the area and he bumped into me with his shoulder. There are things that happen on the pitch and you should not make such a big deal out of them.”
Suarez’s sensational performances for Liverpool last season looked as though he had left his demons behind him, moved on, grown up, matured and won the respect of his peers with his PFA Player of the Year award. But Tuesday’s incident seems as if he has undone all his good work.
Italian newspapers on Wednesday slammed Suarez’s actions. “The return of Dracula. Suarez is worse than Tyson,” said Gazzetta dello Sport while Tuttosport called it “A moment of shameful madness”.
La Stampa meanwhile said the Italians had come unstuck after losing a “battle with vampires”.
Suarez had surgery on his knee 22 days before the World Cup began. He missed Uruguay’s 3-1 defeat to Costa Rica in their opening match but inspired them with a brace in a 2-1 win over England.
But Uruguay will seemingly have to do without their talisman for the rest of the World Cup, including their intriguing last-16 clash against Colombia on Sunday.
FIFA is under pressure to take action. Its vice-president Jim Boyce, who is also the head of the organisation’s referees committee, said: “There is no doubt Luis Suarez is a fantastic footballer but, once again, his actions have left him open to severe criticism. “FIFA must investigate the incident seriously and take whatever disciplinary action is deemed necessary.”
That might mean Suarez could be suspended for as long as two years but it remains unclear whether the ban would apply to international matches only or if it would affect Liverpool games as well.
Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2014
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