Cheaters prosper
theglobeandmail.com
Stephen Brunt
Cape Town, South Africa — Globe and Mail Update Published on Monday, Jul. 05, 2010 8:41PM EDT Last updated on Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010 3:03PM EDT
Those who seek larger life lessons in the theatre of spectator sport are often left disappointed, or at least confused, by events like this.
What we have here is a prospering cheater, which of course isn’t the way it’s supposed to be, a player who, at a crucial, deciding moment, consciously or unconsciously violated the single most fundamental rule of the game of soccer, and afterwards was hailed by his countrymen as a hero.
Luis Suarez was carried off the field on his teammates’ shoulders after Uruguay beat Ghana in a penalty shootout to advance to the World Cup semi-finals.
Uruguay plays the Netherlands Tuesday at Green Point Stadium, but it will have to carry on without him (Suarez is suspended for the match), the first time since 1970 that the two-time champion (1930, 1950) has advanced as far as the semi-finals.
Uruguay would be a sentimental underdog story here, a tiny country of 3.4 million souls, perpetual second bananas to Brazil and Argentina, now against all odds the last South American team standing – except for what transpired in the final moments of injury time of its quarter-final match.
Soccer is a simple, and yes, often beautiful game, of which the object is to direct the ball into the opponent’s net using anything but one’s arms.
There are grey areas, certainly: the offside rule should be cut and dried, but in its application isn’t, and of course faking foul and faking injury (rolling around, writhing in agony, grabbing body parts that are completely unaffected, taking unnecessary rides on stretchers) which in many sports would be considered the worst kind of ethical outrage, doesn’t just often go unpunished in soccer, but can be considered a tactical asset.
If Suarez had simply flopped and drawn a foul or a penalty that in the end decided a match, he would become part of a long, long list that includes some of the best players in the history of the sport.
But what he did put him on a much shorter roll call, with Diego Maradona and his “Hand of God” goal in 1986, with Thierry Henry’s handball that set up the winning goal when France beat Ireland in qualifying for this World Cup.
Everyone who has followed the tournament remembers the moment vividly: during a mad scramble in front of the Uruguayan goal, with the final seconds ticking away and the match tied 1-1, Suarez, desperately trying to defend, saw a ball coming, about five feet off the ground, and heading inevitably into the net.
Ghana would win. Uruguay would lose. Africa would have a team through to the semi-finals for the first time ever. South Africa would have a surrogate home team to celebrate.
And in Uruguay, there would be crushing disappointment at a glorious opportunity lost.
Then Suarez stuck out his hand and stopped the ball.
Ghana was awarded a penalty, as per the rules. Suarez was ejected. Asamoah Gyan hit the crossbar. After two periods of extra time, Uruguay won the match in a penalty shootout.
“This was instinctive,” his coach Oscar Tabarez said at a press conference Monday night. “Suarez couldn’t foresee what was going to happen afterwards.”
Instinct? Could be, though every footballer has that particular instinct drummed out of them from the time they’re knee high. And the way Suarez explained it afterwards, it certainly sounded like he understood the act, and its consequences.
“This was the end of the World Cup," he said. "I had no choice. The 'Hand of God' now belongs to me. Mine is the real 'Hand Of God'. I made the best save of the tournament. … It was worth being sent off in this way because at that moment there was no other choice. … When I saw Gyan miss the penalty, it was a great joy.”
So how do you explain that one to the kids?
Yes, Suarez was punished, with an immediate red card, with the penalty, and with a one-game suspension, as per FIFA’s rules.
But given the opportunity to increase suspension, the bigwigs at FIFA declined. Meanwhile, Uruguay, its fans, its team, the folks back home, have gone to the barricades defending Suarez against his critics.
Monday night, an English reporter – and there’s some subtext here, because it was a Uruguayan referee who failed to see Frank Lampard’s shot cross the goal line against Germany, and it was Uruguay who objected to an English referee being originally appointed for the Ghana match, because it feared retaliatory bias – asked Tabarez if he was embarrassed at advancing to the semi-finals under such circumstances, if perhaps his country ought to show more “modesty”, rather than turning Suarez into a hero.
“Please don’t talk to me about the lack of modesty of the Uruguayan people,” Tabarez shot back. “I am very upset with this whole topic, with the whole issue. We are very proud of our behaviour. Uruguay played three matches [before the Ghana match] with no yellow cards. So please don’t tell me that we cheat. I don’t accept that in any way.”
Which leaves an uncomfortable bottom line: should Uruguay defeat the Dutch Tuesday night, Luis Suarez, who committed football’s equivalent of a cardinal sin, who is absolutely unrepentant, and has been hailed as a national hero, will be playing in the World Cup final.
So what is it that sport teaches about life? |
