Throughout the course of history, people have demonstrated selfless acts in order to see the success and progression of their country or team. The famous last words of the Antarctic explorer Lawrence Oates, “I am just going outside and may be some time”, depict a truly benevolent act of self-sacrifice from a man willing to end his own life in order to save those of his expedition crew.
Agreed the actions of Luis Suarez deep into injury time of the World Cup quarter-final between Ghana and Uruguay cannot be considered in the same high regard as those of Oates, but they are not beyond comparison. Both men had a cause they felt their actions justified and both morally thought they were doing the right thing.
Before judging the actions of Suarez and condemning him as a cheat or lauding him for his cunning play, loyalties to either the aggrieved or beneficial party must be acknowledged. Much of the post game anti-Suarez hype surrounding the goal line handball can be hugely attributed to Ghana becoming the adopted team of most neutral fans. People felt let down that their fairytale story could be undone by an act of what they saw as blatant cheating, or if you will, good versus evil.
The other side of the argument is understanding the mindset and mentality of Suarez in the heat of the moment. There is no doubt that his actions principally stemmed from sheer desperation to prevent his team conceding a goal that would inevitably have knocked them out of the World Cup. It would be unfair and wrong to lament Suarez with being primarily out to get Ghana in a spiteful manner when his actions were purely intended to aid his own team.
Another cruel sentiment to lambast Suarez with is that his handball was an act of cheating. Albeit what Suarez did may be considered a negative piece of play, it is far from an act of cheating. A handball in football is mainly frowned upon, but cannot be considered beyond use in the game or outside the laws.
A handball should be viewed as a foul offense in football that has its consequences if it is made use of. In the case of Suarez against Ghana, he used his hands to prevent the ball crossing the line as a last possible resort, and for his troubles was punished to the maximum effect a player can be on the pitch.
As with any major discussion in football, a possible solution or new law to deal with such an act has been proposed. In another sport such as rugby, prevention of definite scoring opportunity by a means that violates the laws of rugby would result in penalty points being awarded to appease the near certain scoring opportunity that was prevented.
Stepping back from the pressing issue at hand, the final thirty seconds of extra time in Ghana vs Uruguay contained more tension than the previous one hundred and twenty minutes. The event livened up the contest and gave a memorable moment to remember the World Cup. Coming from an Irishman, Ghana should count themselves lucky they had a chance to right the wrong.
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16 comments… read them below or add one
he did cheat. touching the ball with your hand is not in the game regulation. That’s it. Ghana should have won.
Of course its in the games regulations. Thats why there is a punishment to go with the crime. The rules were applied and Ghana were given two oportunities to win the game, the spotkick and the penalty shootout. Its not Suare’s fault they choked on both. Had they scored the penalty or won the shootout, it wouldn’t be an issue. If the handball would have gone unnoticed and unpunished, then it can be considered cheating as in Maradona’s hand of god and Henry’s handball against Ireland.
Killian, are you kidding me?!!! Ghana was not stopped from having a “near certain chance” at goal by Suarez so that a penalty kick would fix it! They were cheated out of a certain goal which would have been at the back of the net if not because of that pathetic cheat!! Then practically their ball was taken out of the goal and put a few meters back and they were told: “now put it again in the goal if you can!”
They didn’t have to go through that process again. And do you realize if this “Suarez style” of play becomes customary the whole game of football will be ruined! So what if from now on players who happen to be in front of the goal line start clearing goals with their hands and hoping that the other team will miss the penalty? After all they might shoot it out like Gyan or the goalkeeper might catch it!! This is not volleyball sir! It is football and it is not played with hands. If he could have not cleared the goal with the legitimate parts of his body he should have graciously accepted their fate and let the ball get in. Ghana simply played better in the end and managed to score a goal. The rules have to be changed so that such cheating would not get rewarded. Ghana’s goal should have been counted!
A handball is acknowledged in the laws of the game so it is part of football. It is as much a part of the game as bad challenges and backchat to a referee. Both of which are frowned upon and warrant a player to be disciplined.
I agree that Ghana were the better team overall, but this is not an unprecedented event and even though this has drawn so much media attention, what Luis Suarez did will still remain a rare event in World football.
No, handball is different from bad challenges and backchat to the ref. Some amount of backchat is fine — at a certain point, it becomes too much and you get carded. Some amount of physical defending is fine; at a certain point, it becomes too rough and you get called for a foul.
No amount of handball, however, is ever fine (unless you’re Fabiano, but whatever). If you touch the ball with your arm or hand, it’s a foul. Period. It’s a black-and-white rule.
I agree that handball is a bit more excessive than backchat and foul play, but if a player makes a calculated risk and makes use of their hands in any context and is subsequently punished, then nothing more can be done.
The keeper was replaced by keeper suarez who brought out a ball that had crossed the line..surely that was a goal and there was no need for a penalty kick. That gave the offender a 50% chance of success..so he suarez and the “blindfolded”referee, CHEATED, robbed and STOLE Ghana’s success. I disagree with your romantic description of fairy tale bumbo quasi literary expressions..this is a serious act of treachery and BTW Ghana was no team for “NEUTRAL SUPPORTERS” What are you talking about? Where do most of the big names in todays soccer come from?? Oh you are from the US..We will win over you anytime anyday..Tchu!
I don’t see how Suarez can be considered a cheat for his goal line handball. He didn’t try to get away with it; he didn’t dissemble or deny it. He didn’t complain about the penalty or the red card. Suarez took a calculated risk and accepted the consequences. That is not cheating.
I would say what the German goal keeper did after Lampard’s goal – which was wrongly disallowed – is cheating, or at least much closer to cheating than what Suarez did. The German goal keeper has publicly bragged to the media that he knew Lampard’s shot fell well inside the goal but that he acted as if it wasn’t a goal with the intention to “fool the referee.” He bragged about this publicly.
Ghana was fortunate to have a free kick opportunity outside the Uruguay box to begin with because there was no body contact between players during the “foul”. The Ghana player basically tripped on (or decided to fall) on himself.
suarez handled the ball over the line and the ref should have given a goal!!!
that goal should have been awarded, it did crossed the line a little bit. so i dont see why suarez and his team got away with that deliberate offence. fifa should do something about it. there was no need to for that penalty kick, it should have been a goal and a yellow card instead! Blatter DO SOMETHING about the rules of the game!
Awarding the goal would certainly have righted a wrong in this instance, but it’s not clear that giving the referee that level of discretion would solve the problem. If replays showed that the ref missed a handball that prevented the ball from crossing the line (hello Hugh Dallas!) would the sense of injustice be any different? The ref handled it perfectly even though he didn’t have the best of matches otherwise. These things will happen, but I agree with Killian that they won’t happen often. If not, the authorities can lengthen the suspension period for the offenders.
What Suarez did was wrong and no one can deny that, but to award a goal by simply saying it was a clear handball will create confusion. Would this mean every handball in front of goal or which stopped a goal should be awarded? The ball did not cross the line (and yes it was going to) but the referees make a decision based on the incidents as they occurred. In this case, the referee made the right choice: red-card for Suarez and a penalty-kick awarded to Ghana. The fault here is with the Ghanaian player because he was not able to convert the penalty. Had he scored, this would not be a topic of discussion.
I think the major mistake here was done by FIFA because they only suspended Suarez for ONE match. He should have been suspended for 2 or 3 games. I think the reason why FIFA suspended Suarez for a single match is a commercial one: If Uruguay make the Final, they will need Suarez and he will be back then. This ensures a better game from Uruguay, more chances for goals and better audience as people know Suarez is a major scoring threat for Uruguay.
I would like to say that was he did was fair. Sure he stopped a goal from going in with his hand but he had CONSEQUENCES. Does no one get that? He got a red card and was suspended from the next game. He is a vital part of the team and all he wanted was the teams chance at the cup. Anyhow they gave Ghana a penalty kick, it was 100x easier than anything no defense and no one blocking his way. He didn’t make it they went into penalties and they still didn’t do well, Ghana is not all that great. Did anyone see that game against the US? Or did everyone forget that Ghana players kept getting “injured” during the extra time they had. They cheated the US out of a fair chance at the cup as well. They made time so the US wouldn’t have a chance to score. So I honestly think Ghana isn’t that great and shouldn’t have made it to that game anyway, they should have been carded several times for faking fouls during the game against the US.
i really enjoyed that uraguay won and who cares suarez shouldn’t be suspended
Reminds me of a similar situation, except in Womens softball where a player who had hit a game winning home run broke her ankle while touching first base. While the home run won the game for the injured player’s team, the rule states that the player has to touch all the bases, including home plate for the home run to count.
The losing team, as good sports should, picked up the player with the broken ankle and carried her around the bases, allowing her to touch each base and win the game for her team. The losing team acknowledged they had been beaten and took the high ground, even though they were not required to.
Perhaps Suarez should have acknowledged that he and his team had been beaten and also taken the high road, providing Ghana with the win.