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| source - bbc.co.uk |
Today an independent disciplinary committee imposed a nine
match ban (international matches) and a four month ban from football on Luis
Suarez, the Liverpool forward who bite Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini. The match ban
rules him out of any further participation in the World Cup, which is being
held in Brazil, and will have an impact on Uruguay’s future tournament
qualification. It’s fair to say that without him, Uruguay haven’t looked in particularly
good form and without him I don’t fancy their chances to progress much further.
He was the difference against England, scoring both goals in an otherwise drab
match and will be greatly missed.
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| source - telegraph.com |
This is nothing new in the world of Luis Suarez, having been
found guilty in April 2014 for a similar bite on Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic.
The FA banned him for ten matches and resulted in an apparent change of
character, with many people believing he should have been PFA Player of the
Year. The new leaf doesn’t seem to have been completely turned over and this
latest controversy will surely have a long lasting impact, both on the image of
the player and also his football career. Will Liverpool welcome him back with
open arms after he has spent the next few weeks on holiday, contemplating his
foul actions? If he belonged to my club I wouldn’t want him anywhere near the
team as the thought of having someone who thinks its normal to bite someone leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
What ban would have been enough though? Well Fifa had it in
their powers to ban him for up to two years and I think a ban of four months
isn’t a strong enough sanction. Sure it rules him out of the World Cup, which
will have a huge impact on the player himself. It also stops him having any
involvement in Liverpool’s Premier League matches until October, but in total this
results in only eight or nine matches. I would personally have liked to see him
banned for one year, from both domestic and international football. It would
have given him plenty of time to repent and try to get the necessary help to
control this violent urges on the football pitch.
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| source - bbc.co.uk |
My verdict is further strengthened by the fact that previous
bans of ten matches (in the case of Ivanovic) and seven games when he choose to
take a chunk out of PSV Eindhoven midfielder Otman Bakkal. This sort of wanton
crime and tendency clearly have no place in football and Fifa should have
really thrown the book at him for this latest assault. I am intrigued by what
the ban on ‘football activity’ will actually entail and how enforceable it is.
Does this mean he can’t train with the first or youth teams? Is he allowed to
kick a football in his spare time? In theory it could be argued that he will
actually miss several more Premier League matches as he won’t have any match
fitness as a result of missing pre-season and having no involvement in any
football matches. Hopefully Uruguay will try to appeal and the ban will be
lengthened, as has happened in the past with other football disciplinary
processes.
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| source - bbc.co.uk |
July to August usually signals a mad scramble for highly
sought after players and before this incident it could be assumed that several
big clubs would come with tempting offers to test Liverpool’s willpower. I think
clubs will still want to sign Suarez, but will Liverpool have the same
determination to keep their prized asset? If I were in Liverpool’s position I
would sell him for £60 million+ and buy a less temperamental player, one would
who serve as a positive ambassador for the club. Every article being written
about Suarez will bring more attached between the words Suarez and Liverpool,
and with this being the World Cup, people from across the world will be
starting to associate the club will his disgraceful actions. Anyone reading
this and thinking I am over the top in my language must clearly believe that
biting fellow players has a place in football, that racial abuse has a place in
football (he served an eight match ban in the 2011-2012 season for racially
abusing Man Utd’s Patrice Evra) and that players can nearly get away with
murder. If a criminal receives a light sentence after committing a heinous crime,
the general public are usually up in arms clamouring for a heavier punishment;
surely the same should be true for Luis Suarez. The fact he tried to clutch at
his face and went to the ground as if he was the innocent party in his tussle
with Chiellini was outrageous.
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| source - liverpoolfc.com |
Still, the world moves on and hopefully we can continue to
enjoy the World Cup of 2014 and remember it for skill and brilliance, not the
actions of players such as Suarez and Song (the Cameroonian who punched a
Croatian player in the back during their group match-up). There is still a lot
of football to be played and I think and hope that Uruguay won’t progress much
further. They tried to claim that the calls for punishment from various media
sources were a witch hunt and any punishment bestowed would be unfair. Why can’t
clubs and football associations look at incidents and replays, see their player
has committed an awful tackle/act and own up. David Moyes was guilty of it time
after time during his short tenure at Utd, Wenger has done it multiple times at
Arsenal and Mourinho.. Well, he’s assaulted fellow coaches on the touchline
himself. Could this ban on Suarez set a tone for future sanctions on players
and will it prove the cure for his bad behaviour?
Thanks for reading this article on the latest controversy at
the World Cup and leave your thoughts and opinions below in the comments field.
Bye for now!
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