A hero8230; a villain

The rules are the rules. Luis Suarez,a striker,did not have to think as he batted a sure goal away from the line.

The rules are the rules. Luis Suarez,a striker,did not have to think as he batted a sure goal away from the line. He did the crime and he would do the time but he saved the World Cup for Uruguay and he broke the heart of Africa. Has this ever happened before,in any sport,where an entire continent was putting its hopes,its prayers,its soul,into a melee in front of a soccer goal?

Dozens of countries,so disparate,so far removed from each other,were surely wishing for Ghana to become the first African nation to reach the semifinals of the World Cup. Ghana had the support of Nelson Mandela,the former president,now 91,who sent a letter to the Ghanaian federation saying that the entire continent wished success to the last African team. The South African team became the first host not to make it out of the first round,so all around Africa people became honorary Ghanaians after Ghana ousted the United States,fair and square,last Saturday.

But now all of Africa is gone,done in by an exchange that favored Uruguay. This was no Hand of God,so dubbed by Diego Maradona,after he swatted home a goal on the fly and on the sly for Argentina in the semifinals of 1986. In that prehistoric age,the officials did not have a clue that Diego had made his deal with the devil,although the English defenders certainly knew.

The swat by Suarez had the smell of sulfur to it,no deities involved. He performed his handball on the goal line with the entire field watching him. He saved the game for Uruguay. He cuffed a continent as surely as he batted away the goal. Suarez reacted in the first minute of injury time of the second overtime period,meaning the players had gone 120 official minutes and then nearly another one. Ghana was swarming the Uruguay goal. And Suarez stood on the line and knocked the ball away.

But was it cheating or was it a cynical trade under the rules of a sport in which goals do not happen very easily? Suarez had no time to reason it out,but he is a professional,he knows the score. He is 23 years old,plays for Ajax in the Netherlands,and he had to know there was a leeway in the law of soccer that allowed him to take a red card,an automatic expulsion and banishment from at least the next match. But at least there will be a next game. Uruguay will go on to play the Netherlands in the semifinals next on Tuesday in Cape Town. Ghana is done. Africa is done.

A miss and Ghana pays the penalty

The drama afterward was not inevitable,although it seemed that way. The trade Suarez arranged in an instant was his expulsion for a penalty kick for Ghana,no automatic,ever. Its not a fair exchange but it is the rule of the sport. Moments later,Asamoah Gyan whacked the ball off the crossbar,up,up and away. The 1-1 draw went into penalty kicks and Uruguay won,4-2. Africa will not reach the semifinals this time.

For a time in those final furious seconds,the vuvuzelas seemed to die down because the fans were actually watching the match and reacting the way fans have always reacted in this sport of very few goals.

That sinking feeling

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They oohed and they ahhed and they roared and then they groaned. Even as Suarez was sent off the field,the fans in the stadium knew they had been deprived,and surely they would say cheated. But thats the trade. Touch the ball on purpose,bat away a goal,and the other team has a pretty good chance to make a penalty kick. Should the referee have the right to wave an automatic goal?

Thats for the folks from FIFA to take up when they discuss the possibility of electronic surveillance or more referees at their next rules meeting later in the month.

The only thing left for Ghana was how it would react. After the players picked themselves up off the floor,Ghana officials said they had no recourse to protest. And Uruguay Coach Oscar Tabarez noted that Suarez would be penalised by missing the next game,and that was a fair price for the red card. One lingering question is whether the ball crossed the line before Suarez touched it,but since world soccer does not provide for goal-line officials or electronic surveillance or chips in the ball,there is no provision for review.

Ghanas gracious acceptance matched the kindness that has marked this South African World Cup. Now Africa has no team left in this tournament,but its last team played well,and when it lost,it lost with grace. That memory should last as long as the result.

Suarezs Cup over?

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FIFAs disciplinary committee will meet to decide whether Uruguay striker Luis Suarez should face extra punishment for a deliberate handball on the goalline in their quarter-final against Ghana. He will already be banned for one match but a two-game suspension if FIFA take that course of action could rule him out of the July 11 World Cup final should Uruguay win their semi against Netherlands.

FIFA spokesman Pekka Odriozola said on Saturday that following the direct red card,Suarez would sit out Uruguays semi-final game against the Dutch in Cape Town on Tuesday. Also the disciplinary committee opens a case for any automatic red card in any match which means the disciplinary committee will be looking at the incident and they will take a decision, Odriozola told a news briefing.

Reuters