Chance for a Heroic Farewell

July 9th, 2010 | by: Lugo | View Comments

Luis Suarez, the hero of the Uruguayan people and at the same time the Uruguayan hero of the XIX FIFA World Cup will have the chance to return to the starting lineup. La Celeste will fight for 3rd place, and if it happens, it would be a justified prize for a wonderful tournament by Tabarez’s team.

Octopuss Paul may have other plans but I see La Celeste as a clear favorite given that the Panzers don’t see the 3rd place as meaningful whereas Uruguayans will always play with heart, passion and dedication no matter what the stakes are.

Yes, the cup will be taken home by Euros, but Uruguayans especially, and South Americans in general have notting to feel bad about in this cup. It was truly awesome to witness all 5 South American nations advance from the group stage. Then Chile was given tough cookies by having to face Brazil, which has dominated the Chileans strongly in recent times. Then it was Brazil itself, and Argentina, our reginon’s eternal giants, who had to take hard knocks on the chin and bow out. But those two have had recovered from worse throughout history and no doubt will do so once more when the time comes.

La albirroja pretty much mirrored La celeste with all the fighting spirit and dedication they put in their games and it took the undisputed best team in the world playing at the top of its game to send them home. Bravo Paraguay, and you even gave us Larissa Riquelme to top it all!

And then was La Celeste, what more can I say? What a perennial source of pride and inspiration. Teams like Uruguay are what make this sport worth watching for. Uruguayans have made football worth loving again. South American style football, that is. Down here we play with heart, with talent and to our last breath. What a great cup to be South American. We will acknowledge, congratulate and recognize whoever wins it all on Sunday. But no one will be able to take this joy away from us. No one.

South American Pride. Always.
Luis Suarez, Forever Hero.