Hypocrite call #2: The Pivotal Question: what would you do?

First, I would like to say that, although I share your view on Suarez's handball and hope Ajax transfers him to a bigger club soon (after 49 goals in 47 games “Insane”), I think there are better ways to approach the reader. You do not need to hit back with anger because your persuasiveness is diminished vastly. Anyway..
Yesterday, as the game was coming to and end and “El Loco” Abreu slapped Kingston in the face with his well-taken penalty kick , I was chatting with my father about Suarez's handball. I asked him what was his honest view. He replied that Suarez's handball was, although illicit in the pitch, legal at the same time. Suarez was punished with a straight red card but saved the hopes of a whole country. That, in football is fair. You perform and action and there is a reaction: a red card.
People may be very angry at the way Ghana, a very good playing side, was eliminated and hate Suarez for what he did.
Mario Kempes, an Argentinean legend, did the same thing in the World Cup also, when his team faced Poland. Kempes was not given a red card at the time, though.
I support Holland against Uruguay and am very sad Suarez will not be able to make it to the pitch. Uruguayans must be proud, just as Paraguayans for what their teams did during 2010. I am Colombian and I am completely sure that if Colombia were to qualify to this World Cup, they would not have had the success these selections had throughout the cup.
I hope someday, South American football rules again. But in Colombia, for instance, directives do not have the passion and dedication to do so.
Good luck and congratulations.

I don't think Uruguayan should apologize.Ghana wasted their chance thus they can only blame themselves .
I'd have done the same if I had been in Suarez's shoes.

Hi again. I agree with you that Suarez is not a cheater. These are the rules of the game. He didnt play by the rules, hence breaking them, but I think that his sending off, and the penalty, were a fair trade for the act he took. More than fair trade. Now considering it was the last secs. of the game, the last thing Ghana should do, it adds to the drama of football, one thing among others that explains why football is the best game ever and so popular amongst fans.

And to me, a neutral person watching the game, it added to the entertainment. And I think I should thank Suarez for that.

On the other hand, I see that a player hitting hard on smone’s leg is a more villain act to make, than saving your team this way Suarez did. At least he didnt hurt (physically) anybody.

We could argue if it was in the first half, he maybe would consider doing the same thing, bcse he would leave his team with ten men, and without its goalscorer, and u would consider too calling him a hero. Which in my opinion, is taking it too far. It wasnt a heroic act. A hero isnt made out of the circumstances. A hero would be smth like Beckenbauer did, playing in a W.C game with his arm broken. This is heroic.

An heroic act is heroic by itself, not by the circumstances. This is my definition however, we could debate on it all night. With u being an uruguayan, I could tell another heroic act which is related more to your country . That uruguayan captain of the 1950’ W.C finals, was rly a hero. And u should also consider who to take on that pantheon of heroes. By lowering the standarts of the heroes, it tells too about someone personality, and his country.

On that regard, I dont like the path you are taking, with the nationalistic aproach and everything. You are taking it too far with this pride of southamericans. I have nothing against you guys, but I should warn you, that every african reading this article of yours would’nt be keen to support your team in the upcoming fixture. If its you (southamericans) against them (others), prepare to be ready for it. If some guys reading this blog would be in the game versus Netherlands, be ready for them to boo your team. And I doubt u are up to it. Neither your team is.

Maybe the path you are taking is a reaction of what u have read in this blog from others, but considering that im offering a different aproach, I dont know if you are ready to take this issue, somewhere else. Im concerned that u think of football in a narrowminded way. In that great movie about Nelson Mandela I remember this quote: football is a street game, played by gentlemens. And this is how it should be. Football like everything else is evolving, and a team should catch up otherwise will lose.

Firstly, congratulations to Uruguay on the win and good luck in the upcoming matches.

I think it's unfair to say Suarez is a cheat. He never really had a choice did he? It was a survival situation and I don't think there's anything to apologise for. You do what you have to.

The thing that does bothers me though, is the way in which Suarez is being celebrated as some kind of saint. The whole 'hand of God' thing is ridiculous and just rubs salt into the wound for Ghana. It was a cynical handball and not some kind of divine intervention. Credit to Suarez for giving everything for his country, but not for the handball. Come on.

Now the rules might say otherwise, but to me it seems only fair for a penalty goal to be awarded in that situation. Maybe that's something FIFA should look into in the interests of the game for the future. That's something everyone should think about and discuss.

I also think while Ghana were unlucky in this instance, they also had a heap of luck just to get out of their group.

Come on, let's acknowledge that Uruguay got lucky lucky lucky, but also that they are a great team with a real shot at the world cup! By the way I'm Australian and I'd love to see AUS V URU in a world cup knockout one day. Imagine that after the 2001 and 2005 qualification history!

I don't see anything wrong with Suarez's handball. It wasn't malicious and came down as a professional foul.
But I see something wrong with this post. Take it easy. There's always trolls and sore losers. You don't have to give “us against the world” attitude.

Now that being stated, I want to ask… Who do you think suitable as Suarez's replacement?

With Suarez, defeating Netherlands would be an upset in the scale of Netherlands defeating Brasil. Now without Suarez, it's even more interesting in terms of how Tabarez would play it out.
Dutch defense is pretty much air-tight, you know.

Wow, you fans are all basically saying the handball rule is just useless. Bet when it happens against Uruguay in the future, you don't got the balls to say the same. All the bloggers of this site look down at Lugo's self-serving view. Let's all use our hands to save ourt team – heck, the only punishment is just a one game suspension. Hell, let's turn this into American football, where we can use hands and feet. Damn, what about ice hockey or volleyball, we can also smack /smash the ball…. wait… why not have 3 goalies so we will have 6 pairs of hands…??? great idea, right, you latin cheaters… shame shame, you fans have no class. uruguay committed the offense, but you blame the victim. This Lugo must have been a criminal, I am sure. He thinks like one.

Likewise Kisara. Suarez did what he had to do for his team. It certainly looked like one of those split second reactions rather than a calculated deliberate act of misconduct. He didn't wake up thinking “I'm going to do a handball so Uruguay can advance today” did he? Where is the malice, the intent to kill, so to speak? So he cheated. But he also saved his team from certain elimination. From a neutral standpoint, he's as much of a cheater as he is a hero.

In any case, the referee was fair. Suarez was given a red card and Ghana had the chance to score. So I don't believe that Ghana were cheated out of a win. If they weren't given the penalty kick, then yes, I would definitely be calling Suarez a cheater at this point. But the fact of the matter is they could have won had Gyan scored. We can debate all we want about whether Suarez is a hero or a cheater but Ghana have only themselves to blame for not winning.

Suarez is a cheat, plain and simple. He cheated Ghana out of a certain goal. It's as simple as that. What's worse, is that lots of children/young people will have seen this, seen that it stopped Ghana winning, so do it too.

you should coach, and then tell your players to use their hands. Then the challenge will be how many goals can you score until only your goalie remains on the pitch. And then, you can have an A and B team and just rotate every other game because of the suspensions. This sounds like a brilliant strategy, maybe the reason France was so scewed up was because Domenech didnt use this strategy, you should coach France.

I am really interested into what Tabarez does from here too. With all of the changes he has made in this World Cup between games (the 5 man defense/ switching to Cavani instead of Nacho Gonzalez or Lodeiro, and not playing Arvalo Pereira last game), I really don't know what to expect, I am very excited to see what happens. I am thinking the conservative approach would be to stick in Gonzalez or Lodeiro into the ATT mid spot, and then have Cavani play Suarez' role adjacent to Forlan, but I don't think thats going to happen, i think they need another finisher, so Abreu might get the call, Forlan has migrated to mid in the last couple matches.

I would say the Dutch weakness on defense is on Robben's side with Boulahrouz. Boula is a capable defender, but not so reliable, and Robben doesn't get back on defense enough, definitely not as much as Kuyt on the other sideline, thus Heitinga will end up being spread out of central defense and van Bommel as well opening the middle to some extent. This seems to work out perfect for URuguay and Arvalo Pereira to attack that flank, Forlan can lean over to that side as well to help counterattacks and possession, and then Cavani, and maybe Abreu can flood the box. Sucks that Fucile won't be there!!!

Actually it's a “gentleman's game played by hooligans”

No cheater. He played foul, got punished, so no blame left. Who claims different is nothing but a bad loser.

Haha, use your hands against Germany, if you want! We won't miss the penalties for sure and be happy to play against 10 afterwards! Ghana lost the game, nothing stolen by the Urus.

Yeah, but acting all out in the media after it was retarded, though…

If it had been an instinctive “I can't help it” reaction than I wouldn't mind. But, afterwards, he said he “took one for the team” and that it was the “new hand of God”. That sounds like a guy who is actually proud of what he did, on purpose, not an accident. “Hey look at me I fouled Ghana out of a semi-final…” I don't thank that's so cool myself.

Anyhow, it's done. Funny story today that his teammate at Ajax, Stekelenburg, the Netherlands goalie, texted him after the Uruguay win, congratulating him on being the best goalie of the tournament.

Good luck tomorrow you guys, hope it's a good game =)

Why don't you simply acknowledge that he was a cheater and therefore a hero for Uruguay?

What's wrong with that? People cheat. Maradona cheated. Fabiano did. The German goalie should have said to the ref: buddy, that Lampard ball was behind the line.

Let's all toughen up a bit. Luis made hands. Ref saw it. Ref gave him red. He's suspended. No need to make a big deal out of it. I rather debate Filipo Melo's pathetic attack on Robben's knee!

Ben, he could have headed the ball out, the idiot

Why hasn't anyone noticed the sweet irony – Ghana only made it out of the group stage because it received and converted two penalties, the first a weird “intentional” handball by Kuzmanovic that was totally unnecessary and in a non-scoring, non-threatening situation in the 85th minute against Serbia, and the second a dubious “intentional” handball on the goal-line called against Kewell, resulting in a red card and the game tying penalty (look at the replay on youtube, Kewell's arm is by the side of his body – I think calling it an intentional handball and awarding the penalty is a pretty generous call).
I say live by the penalty, die by the penalty. If the penalty had occurred midway through the game I know there would be NO controversy – it's only because it happened at the very end of the game. No one is going around calling Kewell or Kuzmanovic a cheater or a hero.

The game is defined by its winners. And I dont see any hooligans winning it yet.

i think what u say is very sensible and people should see the reasoning..and i think u r absolutely rite when u say a hero is someone on the action he does not on the circumstancial reaction to it..well said and end of it all…still hard for some people to understand

Apologize? That cry starts to sound like the irrational Turkish Erdogan and his thugs.
Nothing to apologize, and nobody to apologize to.

I don't thing what Suarez did was bad at all. He knew it would result in a penalty kick but would save the 100% goal. He did what he had to do to give his team a chance to win and realized he would be penalized for it.

Is this any different than tackling a player from behind when he has a breakaway on goal. That happens all the time. The defensemen knows he will be penalized but has to do it to stop the goal.

Besides I have seen many intentional handballs this world cup and none have gotten any attention like this.

I feel bad for Ghana they played bravely and deserved a win but soccer is not alway about who deserves to win but who wins on the scoreboard. We all know that.

No reason to villify Suarez and certainly no reason to villify the Uraguayans for being happy that they won. It was a split second decision made for the survival of his team. Not some scandalous plot carried out over time. Please give them a break…you of course should also repect and acknowledge the Ghanan effort and there bad luck.

Good luck tommorrow Uraguay as your team has played well all tournament but I am hoping the Dutch will win. Really have enjoyed watcing your team though and if we lose I will root for Uraquay in the final.

yeah the quote was “football is a gentlemen's game played by hooligans, and rugby is a hooligan's game played by gentlemen.”

england has won, they're the prphets of this quote.

I wish the people who continue to insult uruguay understood the circumstances like you do.

i think now that periera is back from injury, he will put forlan, cavani, and loco up top.

no periera was injured he will be back for the semi finals dont worry

no he couldnt the ball was out of reach for a header and was coming to quick from to close. he didnt have the time to header the ball to he had to reach with his hands. only loco could have gotten that ball with a header and that because he's 6'4

no a penalty is more of a certain goal than that, and they wasted their penalty.

it was impossible to be a decision the ball was coming from 5 feet away, he had a millasecond to react.

first: luis suarez is a key player and the top goal scorer for uruguay this tournament so its a big deal.
second: ghana had a penalty, the easiest goal in soccer.

Todos los uruguayos y quienes apoyamos a la celeste mañana los esperamos aqui, a nuestro liveblog en español para darle todo el apoyo a la celeste.

All Uruguay-haters can go to the english liveblog at the homepage. We won't need you here tomorrow.

You're cool. Hoping for a good, clean, non-controversial game between Uruguay and the Netherlands tomorrow. “Soccer is not alway about who deserves to win but who wins on the scoreboard. We all know that.” Love it!

Hey people. I think this shameless controversy has made a lot of people question the point of playing soccer. If we could use our hands to cheat and stop the opponent, then why not just re-structure the sport so that we can use hands in certain circumstances, and not just a goalie. I am a Ukrainian-American and I support Spain. But really, I just don't understand why hands are not allowed, when we see Fifa is very lenient on game-changing handball events like Suarez. Is there some way soccer can allow using of the hands so as not to cause controversies again? There must be a way. I am not a big soccer fan, but I just dont get the paradox: if using hands are illegal, then why was not that goal awarded as it was clearly heading into the goal? if hands are illegal, then why players are using them and getting away with very little punishment? So that can only mean Fifa does not mind using hands in soccer, right? You people in soccer have to make up your mind. This sport has a lot of basic problems with the rules and referee not having technology to assess infractions, etc. It is a very antiquated sport that needs a revolution and a restructing. If goalie and throw ins can allow hands, why not the rest of the players, since more players are resorting to cheating by hands to get results? To say that USING HANDS LIKE SUAREZ TO SAVE HIS TEAM AND GIVE HIS TEAM A LAST MINUTE CHANCE means that yes, we allow hands in those hopeless situations – which means that soccer allows hands irrespective of the punishment. So why not allow hands in certain situations? The controversy has fueled the argument in the U.S. that soccer is such a backward sport… no hands, but hands, and, no, that handball makes him a hero, or using hands is cheating…. so which is it? Using hands is acceptable or is it cheating??? This Suarez act is giving a lot interested children a very bad impression of the sport and clearly shows how top national teams like Uruguay resorts to cheating at the last moment…. and this is a paradox because FIFA touts the slogan “Fair Play.”

Yup. Time o switch to the Rugby code.

Okay forget cheater. Suarez is a flagrant rule breaker?

Relax Lugo. Your team has played well and in general deserves to be where they are. Why don't you just let this whole thing go? Here I am on the verge of Uruguay's first semi-final in 60 years looking for some analysis from the country's WC 2010 blogger and all I get is this ultra-defensive crap from you about why you won't apologize. Last time I checked, you didn't have anything to apologize for.

So why don't you get on with actually writing about football. Do us a favour and tell us what to look for tomorrow. How will Uruguay play without their core? What strategy should we be looking for? Who is strong off the bench that might stand up to the Dutch?

Or are you just interested in troll baiting? C'mon…get on with the football writing.

If Ghana would have made the gaol like he supposed too, you would not be saying anything at all! And to top it off, they missed two, 2, penalty kicks. Continue to blame the Uruguayos, that's fine they are in the semis, and will continue to the finals even if it means that another player will keep the ball from going int their goal with their hands.

ARRIVA CELESTES!!!!!!!!

Regarding Uruguay vs Holland: Uruguay struggled to get to the final 4 and I thought they were not that impressive in the group games (even against an error prone SA) and they were slowand sloppy against South Korea. Now as good as Forlan is, I would think the Dutch are a couple classes higher than South Korea or Ghana, right? Plus the absense of key players ,… well, people say Uruguay and my Spain in the Final, but after seeing the Dutch and also witnessing their amazing performance against a dirty Brasill, Uruguay needs what? More cheating, more luck, what? Objectively, yes, miracle can happen, but you need skills and talent too to cause miracles to happen, but the Uruguay team is missing a lot of key players and they are shadowed by the “cheating” label and feeling guilty about it and plus their individual skills are not as top class as the Dutch in my view, and you cannot put that kind of pressure on this Forlan. I also noted the Uruguay defence was weak against South Korea and Ghana, letting them attack and penetrate needlessly, that was with the top players. But now certain defenders are now and the Dutch have Robben, Sneijder, V Persie and even Kuyt in my view is twice better than Forlan. Not to mention Van Bommel or when Huntelaar (a very very dangerous big fast striker this guy) comes in…. I just cannot see how Uruguay can absorb all that pressure for 90 plus minutes and have time to build up some forward movement. I think Uruguay risks a lot by moving too fast up, and will be very erratic without their normal players. Anyway, I believe Spain and the Dutch deserve to be in Final.

I understand it hurts but you know what tough luck. It is obvious you don't know about football. And your ideas are plain stupid, please keep them to yourself!

GO LATIN CHEATERS!!!! HAHAHAHAHA

Uruguay all the way!

As a goalkeeper, I would never be in that position. But it was best put by the Guardian I think it was. I'd expect every single player in my team to do exactly the same thing in that circumstance. Good on Uruguay and I really hope they win to 1) annoy the holier than thou purists and 2) to see Diego Forlan prove wrong all the anglophilic imbeciles who think that if you can't make it in the EPL you can't be good and 3) for Egidio Arévalo who must have the biggest heart in the tournament. What a player

WHY HASN'T ANYONE DISCUSS ABOUT FORECOMING GAME AGAINST THE DUTCH?!

Come on.. move on..
There's a big game tomorrow and people here still discussing about Suarez's handball.
Too bad there wasn't Internet in 1978.

France cheated and shouldn't have even been in the World Cup, which is why they went out in humiliating fashion. Karma has a way of making sure that cheaters don't prosper. Uruguay cheated and instead of going out with pride, having outlasted Brasil and Argentina as the only South American team still in the competition, instead they will be humiliated by the Netherlands today and go home branded as cheaters. Does anyone outside of Uruguay actually want Uruguay to win today? The whole world is against you. Netherlands, so us a favour and beat these unsportsmanlike cheating Uruguayans by 6-0, and lets us show our kids that winners never cheat and cheaters never win.

Hmmmm… Let bygones be bygones.. Lets look foward to the semi final match uru v/s ned . A lot of people would like to believe that this match will be a walk over for ned. uru have not come this far for nothing… they will make it very hard for the dutch… and if diego forlan fires then the dutch better watch out for uru might be headed to the Football World Cup 2010 finals.

Dudes, There are some interesting posts on Uruguay and Diego Forlan at the Netherlands blog…. Check us out and come have fun with us…

I wish you all a great game!

I do think their should be a penalty goal in football and that was unlucky for ghana.

but what about the certain penalty uruguay were denied in the last ten minutes. or the non free kick for the penalty.

uruguay are hated more for denying africa a team in the semis than for the handball. the medias storyline has been ruined.

I have absolutely no problem with what Suarez did at all and many (don't say all because I saw Lahm making once a totally epic goalkeeping act with the tip of his foot in this world cup)would have done the same in his situation. However, I and I know many people have a problem with HOW he did it. Breaking the rules is part of the game, but not offensive actions.

If most people would have done that in his same situation, I know most people certainly wouldn't have tried to offend a lot of people in the way he did. If most people would have done this in Suarez situation, they certainly wouldn't have done it in a VOLLEYBALL position (if you have ever played volleyball you would know) and less make comments to the press about him being the “new hand of god”, and even less go out to celebrate to the field. “How” defines this action as the insult it was to the people of Ghana, Africa, and around the world who invested hope, money, effort, and a lot of hard work not only in this match but in every game

You should feel bad for Ghana not because they lost the game, not because of what Suarez did per se, but because of how Suarez did what he did and that was certainly bad.

This is where it is evident that you along many other people including the writer of this post are the real hypocrites here. You don't care about the lack of respect and ignore it deliberately. I know a lot of people, whether they are aware or not that breaking rules is part of the game, sense and perceive there is something terribly cruel about this, but can't articulate themselves nor can solidify it, but this is it: the lack of respect for Ghana's work by Suarez' mocking along hypocrites like you ignoring it.

@ VIVAURUGUAY….. – not that kind of fun. That's just childish :p

P.S. I, for one, admire and applaud the only Hand of God which is the one of Maradona in 1986, because after all they WON the World Cup and they didn't win that game nor any game because of that.

Maradona's hand of god required a lot of skill and intelligence and you could see he was gifted, since it was a physical problem (height, not skill). He, contrarily to Suarez, really cheated but you can't say that Argentina won the game completely because of this, less the World Cup.

And Maradona certainly didn't go on making offensive remarks to the English on the press because of nor after this game, he only admitted that he did it 5 years ago publically and he had damn good reasons to do what he did. Argentina still won the World Cup. Uruguay fans like this blogger should lower down their egocentric tone because it could shoot them in the arse.

Ghanaians' work deserved respect after the game. Suarez didn't do that. Everyone cheats but not everyone offends. I think I made my case about who are the real hypocrites.

Go on ignoring his volleball position (perhaps most people would have done what he did, but not how) and going to celebrate to the field, plus making these arsehole remarks to the press disrespecting Ghanaians' work for the sake of his ego and profiting out of controversy. These are the actions that were just wrong, not the rule breaking per se. Calling him a hero while deliberately ignoring his blatantly disrespectful attitude is just either plain bigotry or hypocrisy.

Vamos Celeste !! Vamos Uruguay !! Toda Suramerica esta con ustedes apoyandolos. Sigue demostrando esa Garra charrua que haz mostrado en todo el campeonato.

Suarez hizo lo unico que podia hacer para ke la pelota no entrara. Si ghana no hizo el gol es culpa de ellos y punto. Yo haria lo mismo – se ke pagaria las consecuencias pero le daria una oportunidad mas a mi equipo de tapar el penalty y talvez ganar el partido.

Nos puedes dar la alineacion? Juega Abreu y Lugano? Quien reemplaza a Fucile? … gracias.

Nothing to apologize, just apologists I know people who defend Israel's Gaza Flotilla attack are the ones making up excuses for Suarez' behaviour after the game and during it in the volleyball position disrespecting the work of an African country. So predictable, it's not even funny.

I believe Spain had their “lucky” World Cup and doesn't deserve to be in the final. And Holland doesn't either because of their laziness and boring football.

Uruguay deserves to be on the final and Germany too(Ghana did as well), because of their hard work (can't say that because of Suarez' mockery and disrespect to his opponents), skills, and intelligence as does Germany. Both footballs are a joy to watch and effective in winning (spare me the way in which Uruguay won against Ghana, which is the exception).

I completely agree with you and love your comment(particularly the nationalist approach, which is disturbing), except in one little detail:

Suárez used BOTH of his hands, hence it is not “fair trade”. He should get two red cards and then it would be about fair.

So when Ghana missed the penalty goal. should Suarez continue to cry and feel bad? Come on, you are the one being a hypocrit. This is the WORLD CUP, every 4 YEARS, lose you go home. Please!!!!!!!!! If Ghana would have like he should have made the penalty kick, no one would be talking about it! Bigotry, I really don't think you know the meaning of that word!

Main Entry: big·ot
Pronunciation: ?bi-g?t
Function: noun
Etymology: French, hypocrite, bigot
Date: 1660
: a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance

I'm Canadian, a neutral observer and this sort of play is what any ice hockey coach would instruct his players to do. Tripping an opposing player on a clear breakaway or a non-goaltender covering the puck in the net area are typical plays that are penalized the same way, with a penalty shot. Of course, take the blatant penalty if necessary to save a goal! It's not like a player is trying to break someone's leg.

Maybe all the fuss is that any goal in football is a bit more crucial compared to hockey, but the principle is the same.

That's exactly what Suarez did, not what I do for pointing it out. It's like if someone says that you are intolerant because you don't tolerate intolerance, i.e. bullcrap.

Nice try though. I will repeat again that his comments to the press are not excusable and certainly not a part of the game. Neither was the volleyball mockery position. That's bigotry and he also confirmed this going to cheer to the field in front of a lot of broken hearts during the WORLD CUP. I hope some day you can differentiate between two things, but it seems you apparently just want to ignore it.

Everybody cheats, but not everybody offends in that way.

Had Ghana done it, most people would have reacted the same, though even if breaking the rules is part of the game, offending people in the press and the work of a hard-working team in a mocking VOLLEYBALL position is not something to respect or call anyone a hero about.

Also, I am not a bigot. I am Latin American too and I was always rooting for Uruguay except in this game, where Ghana worked most of its way. Everybody had hopes because they showed their amazing work. Suarez didn't respect that, he made fun of it. Entiendes o te haces?

Go home cheaters

Oh bugger, where's Suarez when you need him? He could've saved the second goal if he was playing…

well, 3-2 with three Uruguayan key players on the bench, and almost a tie for Uruguay, maybe if that goal in offside hadn't counted for the Dutch as it should have been disallowed. I'd say Holland is not that big a deal and Germany will take care of them. I think it was your team who can't absorb any pressure at all…

No irony, both were clear handballs, a third handling on the goal line by Lahm was actually missed in the GHA v. GER game.

1.) Serbia did the same weird handball against GER and it was called the same way.
2.) Kewell's handling was a clear handball, it was clearer that kewell was trying to chest it, and instead clearly used his arm to block the goal.

The only irony is the Uruguay people proclaiming Suarez a hero of “the heavens” for such a dirty play. LOL. Now everyone hates you as dirty cheaters — like the World Cup when the Europeans constantly fouled Pele to injure him.

Anyway you were thrashed by the Dutch today. Enjoy the fruits of foul play, when it happens to you either through handling or injury I doubt people will care to listen to your fans or coaches.

Now it's almost a tie ? LOL get real, the Dutch dominated the second half wasting chances and then celebrated early — even the coach of Uruguay gave up and took Forlan out at the 85' min .

All teams have players on the bench due to suspension and injury through the knock-out and now the finals.

Suarez cheated, a few days ago and it helped, you were outclassed and outran and lost today.

you lost go home.

First, I'm not Uruguayan or even Latino. I saw nothing from Ghana that made me think they deserved to be in the semifinals (except for the US game). Kewell committed a handball but my point is that you can easily argue it was unintentional – even you admit he “was trying to chest it.” After the play you can see him appealing to the referee and pointing to instant replay. Watch it again on youtube. Ghana was lucky to get that call. They also got a penalty kick on a handball on a non-scoring chance. Ultimately the better teams like Germany don't have fates that depend on a single play, so don't go crying like this was the biggest injustice ever.

Also, I thought Uruguay played a great game today. If not for the Sneijder goal that should have been called offsides it could have been even closer. The Dutch were the better team, but then they were better than Ghana too and I suspect that game would have been more of a blowout.

Also, I disagree with calling Suarez a hero. He just did what he had to to help his team win, just like the Ghana player taking the ridiculous diving penalty against the US in the last world cup or the Dutch with their twin Robben floppign and Van Bommel destroying people in the midfield. All teams look for an edge and would cheat if they could get away with it.

So he is not going to win any sportsmanship awards. I agree. Even Henry was a bit sheepish after his handball against Ireland.

But he's not the worst villain either. To me a leg-breaking tackle is much worse than an intentional handball on the goal line that results in a penalty – an act of brutality and thuggishness that has no place in the sport -but I accept that some people feel differently.

>First, I'm not Uruguayan or even Latino.
Complete non-sequitor it doesn't matter to your argument, and there is no way to verfiy it anyway if it did. Anyway later you say your team is Paraguay so go figure …

>I saw nothing from Ghana that made me think they deserved to be in the semifinals >(except for the US game)
Fair enough but your view is interesting, GHA played better against URU/GER etc. than against the US/AUS both of whom rely on route one and fitness. Go to Zonal Marking .net for an unbiased view of Ghana's Group Games, Group strength and GHA/URU.

If that is true, then it could just as easily be said that Uruguay didn't do much either, especially given their very weak group, as the myth of their great defense was shattered by better opposition.

>Kewell
lol you must be joking right? Not worth a response really.
Ironically, Lahm handled the ball on a fantastic corner header by GHA v GER, and no call was made… you might do well to watch the first half of that game.

>They also got a penalty kick on a handball on a non-scoring chance.
So did GER against weird Serbian handballs, GHA gave up a penalty on poor tackling in the US game as well — (in the same SER game GHA also hit posts a couple of times and shots that looked good, with keeper beaten). That's why score lines can be very deceiving.

> GER v. GHA
GER fate actually was in doubt in the GHA game — check the review, actual games must be played — just like NED v. BRA.

> URU v. NED
You must be joking…
NED dominated the second half, the Sneijder goal is so close people will debate the stills on the calls, and the NED (Robben) still wasted tons of chances. NED has the tendency to let up, as they did against SVK and other games, that caused the last goal on very poor defense. The first goal by Forlan was also keeper error, just as the second NED / Sneijder goal was unlucky for URU from the URU deflection.

The Uruguay coach gave up for goodness sakes! (poor decision on his part, but true)

>GHA v. NED
Games must be played.
If you could predict the future, I'm sure you'd be a great gambler.

Well that's that.
I hope the Dutch player is okay from being kicked in the head by a Uruguay player…

How did the game turn out?

Well since you referred to me as “you” as if I was Uruguayan or a Uruguayan fan I was assuming you thought I was latino. Which I'm not, though my grandmother is English but born in Paraguay. My real name is Nicholas, I just like to use Nico on football message boards…

We can disagree on Ghana's performance in previous games compared to Uruguay, fair enough. I thought Uruguay showed one of the most impressive defenses in the tournament and two great finishers, while Ghana had lots of great play and better than normal organization for an African side but no quality finishing (unfortunately the undoing of all the African sides in this World Cup – lots of chances but no quality finishers).

Vs. Uruguay I thought Uruguay dominated the first 30 minutes but Ghana got better as the game went on, and played really well in the last extra time period (probably why you and other Ghana fans feel so robbed of that goal).

I'm sticking to my guns on the Kewell handball though – he couldn't have pulled his arm away in time. As Pim Verbeek said – what is Kewell supposed to do, cut his arm off? Also looks like his eyes were closed as he was trying to chest/shoulder it. But I understand there are other guidelines the referees use too, such as distance as speed of the shot (and maybe the shooter was too far away). Well, these kinds of debates make football fun too, no?

Why though?

It seems you are acknowledging that the penalties on the field do always match the heinous intent of the action. E.g. the Cote D'Ivoire player that harshly tackled the Brasillian Elano, and bruised his bone, knocking him out of the World Cup — he wasn't even carded. That sucked for Brasil and Elano… Kaka carded from B.S., Fabiano handled-ball goal (and laughing with the ref).

Fans have accepted the rules sometimes don't work the way the field of play seems to dictate, and thus they whinge for a bit. However, Uruguay became arrogant and prideful about misdeeds, and it provoked a whiplash against their team… tough luck.

If anyone from URU would have had a bit of sympathy or contrition, no one would have cared. After the fact players can make amends (or disappear), Suarez and Taberez chose not to do so, and then Uruguay fans are “wondering” why others would be upset?

Give me a break…

The arrogance of Uruguay has attracted fury…the real irony is the whinging from Uruguay now that they have advanced.

Tough.

Most non European countries are from humble economic circumstances, that means very little as far as some sort of quasi-moral argument.

Uruguay is very lucky to have past glory claimed before most African countries (and some Eastern European) were even in existence. And by celebrating Suarez actions as heroism they've lost a lot of fans they would have had otherwise…and I'm sure it sucks to be seen unfavorably by so many fans.

As Nico said earlier, Suarez isn't a hero or villian; I'd add it is the reaction from Uruguay's coach is what really provoked hostility.

Actually you do v. Serbia. Keep tempting fate as well.

Uruguay now is furious at holland for a not so obvious offside goal. Now you guys should be quiet as well. Although Suez action may be understandable, it cheated Ghana from winning the game. Without that action Uruguay would not have been playing at all today. So.. enjoy your semi finals and be good sports. The trainer of Uruguay knows how to loose with pride. Respect!

Hurray, the cheaters are going home as predicted.. Karma doesn't like cheaters… Go home. You won't be missed !!

Luckily for the Netherlands the “Hand of the Devil” was not playing last night. Europe is dominating this world cup, not South America. I’ve gone through all the matches at this world cup and could not find anyone deliberately handling the ball in the box is the dying moments of the game and trust me there was plenty of opportunities to do so. Maybe cheating is just an Uruguay thing at the end of the day. Words from “The hand of God” – “you will reap what you sow”…

Marga you sore loser. Watch the replays. There was no offside. Why dont you focus on how you monkeys didnt even deserve to be in the semis. Uruguay was INFERIOR, so bad that the coach gave up and took out Forlan because they knew cheaters dont get to go to the FINALS. Yeah, right! Holland couldn't take pressure..??? Your monkey team was panicking, and they collapsed like Brazil in the second half, giving up TWO GOALS in four minutes. Tsk, tsk, tsk….. even zoo monkeys play better than that. Go home, brother, and deal with your monkey demons…

Does it make it worse that it was the dying moments of the game? Would Suarez be less of a cheater if he did an intentional handball early in the game like Harry Kewell against Ghana? Or in the 85th minute like Kuzmanovic against Ghana?

It seems to me like an intentional handball is “cheating” no matter when it occurs, and you shouldn't make a bigger deal out of it just because it happened at the end of a game or because your team failed to convert the penalty and lost. So Kewell and the two Serbians are just as much cheaters as Suarez. Just saying…

Also, no need to paint a whole country and football team with a broad brush because of the actions of one individual. Maradona committing the hand of God does not mean Messi is a cheat, and Thierry Henry's handball or Zidane's headbut do not mean that Michael Platini was a thug and cheater.

That's not cheating because Suarez was penalized and suspended. Ghana was
awarded a penalty kick. Gyan had a chance and miss the goal.

Put yourself in Suarez' position – just think about it – you would have done
the same.

2010/7/6 Disqus <>

no, the paraguay player v. spain did not do it.

Lugu knew the team would be soundly beaten by NED and the hero worship would be for nothing like France. It must suck to be both a cheater and a loser.

That's the dumbest item in this thread.

another dumb statement. He cheated, he was punished, now there are a bunch of conflicting statements — the more uruguay talabrez, saurez proclaim him a hero, the more ppl will proclaim him a villian. You can't have it both ways.

“If most people would have done this in Suarez situation, they certainly wouldn't have done it in a VOLLEYBALL position (if you have ever played volleyball you would know)”

Who cares if it was in volleyball position? He wanted to stop the ball with his hands so what does that matter? It is not more disrespectful anymore than if he didnt do it using volleyball position. Am I missing something here? What is so offensive about the volleyball position. I can't place my head around it…

“and less make comments to the press about him being the “new hand of god”,”

Now, how is that offensive to Ghana? He didn't comment on Ghana's performance. He commented on his own performance. He did save his team from elimination, cheating or not… Hand of god comment is a joke, unless he is very religious and meant it literally. It could only be offensive to very religious people, and he obviously said it because of the Maradona one.

” and even less go out to celebrate to the field.”

Every young footballer has a dream of playing in the world cup. Everyone has a dream of winning games to advance far with his team. It's not an insult at all to be genuinely happy and celebrate after winning an extremely tough game vs a strong opposition. I'd be more offended if I was from Ghana, if Uruguay didn't celebrate like the game didn't matter to them and like they thought they'd win either way.

” “How” defines this action as the insult it was to the people of Ghana, Africa, and around the world who invested hope, money, effort, and a lot of hard work not only in this match but in every game” “

Anyways, I don't see any of what you said as disrespect. And most certainly if the situation was reversed, Suarez wouldn't be offended at those comments. As a neutral it is my opinion, that you are overblowing it out of proportion. I really hope people of Ghana, Africa and around the world aren't that resentful over something so insignificant. If they really are, then I further lose hope in humanity.

I respect your opinion though even if I don't agree with it. And I respect the way you presented it. You sound smarter than 95% of the flamers here.

Huhh…

Can you elaborate which play in the Par. vs Spain game are you taking about?
Was it the penalty kicks drama?

To the defence of the blogger:

See it's comments like these that made the blogger make this post. You ask why doesn't he provide game previews or whatever the regular blogger should do? I'll bet that people like this would flame anything he posts, be it less provocative. It was a fair judgement on his part to not ignore the bad blood but confront it in this blog.

David Villa's goal that hit two posts with the Paraguay player in the center.

Hup Holland

I had a long good response, it hasn't been let out of quarentine.

Go cheaters — kicking a dutch player in the head, and then claim they were roughly fouled in the game.

Typical cheaters.

What part of Uruguay did no not cheat did you not get? Suarez was given a red card for what he did. He sacrificed himself for the team, meaybe that's a concept too complex for Eurpoeans, why is it so hard for you to understand? To say that it was cheating is to be plain ignorant.

I think the dumbest item in this thread is you saying goodbye to a team the Germans have to face. They played Spain with all their best players in their best shape and LOST because they were overconfident! and they couldn't believe it! Did that lone German player leave the field yet?

maybe the Dutch player should not have tried to intercept a ball when someone was clearly flipping in the air to kick it. There was no intention to hit the player, and that was easy to see for all, except apparently you, who for some reason have picked Uruguay to hate and who are, for some reason, being careful not to say where you're from.

“A penalty is more certain than a goal going to the back of the net.” <- dumb statement.

I think you have me confused with someone who wanted ze Germans to win. Just b/c I can speak German doesn't mean I'm German, Dutch, Austrian or Swiss. ROTFLOL.

“clearly flipping to kick” whatever, another dumb statement.

It was clearly a dangerous play by the foolish Uruguay player, your nationalism blinds your sense of smart play. What sort of play will you defend next, studs up tackles as fouls that are necessary to win?

When your rhetorical skill fails you threaten? ROTFLOL.

it's a game, people get hit, it wasn't intentional, you need to get a life.

I am an Argentine Fan…
I wish you win the next game, not because its against Germany,
but Uruguay has the balance to defeat the European big guns,

Although Only player who would be nice in Argentine squad is Forlan

Good luck Uruguay !!!

BTW: Replays shows that it was offside from the header in the mish-mash that lead to the latest “hand of god”.

Bwp is either a jealous sore loser or racist. Unfortunately there's a lot of them. The best thing is to not reply, maybe they'll go get a life.

I didn't defend the play, it's bad when ANYONE gets hit. The Dutch player moved on, knowing he put himself in a bad position and so did all the other players and the referee. You are the only one picking on this for lack of anything else to say. And, where did you see a threat in my post? Are you also paranoid delusional? I do point out again, you don't want to reveal where you are from. If your team didn't make the final either, it's OK, it's a GAME. I hope you find some peace.

First of all, I didn't say that A penalty is more certain than a goal going to the back of the net. In my post, I was speaking in the aftermath of the most recent game, Germany-Spain and the fact that Uruguay is playing with Germany after they lost today, and that insulting or underestimating a given team sometimes backfires, like today, most recent example. Obviously, maybe because your country is out, or you are just frustrated, out of an entire World Cup, 60 plus games so far, you want to dwell on Uruguay beating Ghana.

Trust me, let it go. ByeCheaters can't get past deep-seated prejudices. I too thought, mistakenly, that these blogs were for civilized discussions and commentary about the games. Instead, they are a forum for people who can't process that their team lost, people who are racists, and people who can't figure out how to have a good time without being rude and offensive. There are other blogs.

You blamed the Dutch player for the Uruguay player's maldriot attempt, clearly you haven't watched the actual play and are just commenting based on bias.

Watch the play.

What you want more phone number and address you stalker? Get a life loser.

Uruguay to win did, you responded to that statement with your foolish ideas without reading, just as you blamed the dutch player for being kicked in the head without bothering to really watch the play.

“Obviously maybe” LOL no wonder you aren't persuasive.

I couldn't care less who you are or where you live.
But you are not revealing your nationality, which nobody else has a problem doing.
Very cowardly.

“maybe” applies to either “your country is out” or “you are just frustrated”, genius. I just don't know which one is the reason for your anger because you won't admit it.

I've read tabarez's interview and nothing he said was offensive or disrespectful at all. I tried to find Suarez interview and couldn't only could find in other articles bits of what he said. I'm assuming you and many other ignoramuses couldn't read his interview either. Don't you realize that the tone, the context the questions are important in order to make judgement like that? 80% of communication is non-verbal, and here even more percent was lost because of the articles. For some reason I even go so far as to think that he complimented Ghana on a game well played, but it wasn't printed in English articles because in every interview every player compliments the opposition. Where is the fun in printing that?

That being said, I find nothing both of them said as offensive to anyone. If anyone finds it offensive, it's their problem. Heck, even if it was offensive, there is no need on being hostile in the Uruguay blog.

You fail to realize that Uruguay being proud is directed at themselves and not at the opposition. And they should be proud, such a small country advancing so far, and showing passion, skill and never say die attitude.

Still waiting for Germany…

The only way an action like Suarez's can be really compensated is by awarding the initial goal and a red card. It is a stupid rule the a sure goal has to be repeated through a penalty. The fact that a criminal goes to jail, doesn't make him less a criminal. Suarez cheated, period. Understandable, but nevertheless. Ghana would be in the semi finals otherwise. You can turn and twist, but there is no other description. As said elsewhere, this would be less of a discussion without the misplaced pride in this action by Suarez and “some” fans. This with their comments after the game against Holland makes their whole appearance in this world cup a disgrace, I'm sorry to say.

Always say handball attitude. Uruguay, Taberez and Suarez made themselves into a joke, the Dutch players were sending jokes and had a good laugh about Uruguay. Uruguay was in a weak bracet, with weak teams and couldn't even beat a weak ghana team without handballs

Oh yeah, the Dutch player's jaw was broken by a chicken hearted Uruguay player and worldcupblog talks about van brommel LOL…

Get a man, woman, dog or cat you stalker.

I'm not entirely sure what game you were watching, but the game I watched had the Netherlands dominating midfield posession throughout the match with just one holding midfielder (Van Bommel) playing on the edge of foul. With De Jong present you wouldn't even see the box.

Forlan's goal should never have gone in but Stekelenburg made an error he was man enough to admit after the match. The Netherlands extended the lead to three goals and kicked back for fifteen minutes. Uruguay got a lucky one in but never recovered.

Enjoy your battle for third place.

In American-football/gridiron there is a thing called “pass interference” where a defensive player intentionally inflicts a penalty on the guy catching the egg and it is not an automatic goal no matter where it occurs. Instead they get the egg near the goal where any one with half a brain can get a goal, if the team does not achieve this it is their fault. It is no different from what Suarez did and no one complains about it.

In baseball a pitcher can “walk” a person on purpose if he has reason to believe he is a dangerous player and instead try his luck against a less skilled opponent. Same thing here and no one complains.

Most sports have these kinds of situations. They are part of the game.

Holland was in a weak bracket with weak teams and couldn't even beat a weak japan team without a fluke bounce. They also definitely couldn't beat Brazil without fluke 2 goals and robben constantly diving.

Spain had a weak bracket and couldn't beat weak chile without a bullshit red card. They couldn't beat weak switzerland. They couldn't beat portugal without a bad offside call.

Germany had weak bracket and couldn't beat weak Serbia. They couldn't beat weak England without the disallowed goal. They couldn't beat weak Ghana without wrong penalty decision.

Those are 3 other semi-finalists. Your arguments are retarded. Everyone can have a bad game, or affected by luck, it doesn't reflect on the squad strength.

You are an idiot. Get the fuck off this blog and go be a fuckface somewhere else. Better yet, get a purpose in life. Purpose that's not annoying everybody you possibly can. You worthless parasite.

P. S. HOLLAND FOR THE CUP!!! URUGUAY FOR 3RD PLACE!