FIFA must deliver a significant ban
Luis Suarez is one of the most scintillating sportsmen on the planet. When he is on form, fizzing around the pitch, finding space that barely exists, he turns his particular brand of forward play into an art form. It is a testament to the other side of this most paradoxical of modern-day athletes that one can say, without reservation, that he must play no further part in this World Cup.
That would be the only legitimate conclusion if his attack on Giorgio Chiellini of Italy in which he appeared to sink his teeth into the shoulder of the defender, was his first such offense. As his third (after suspensions for biting in 2010 in the Dutch league and again in April 2013 in the Premier League), there is a case for a lengthy worldwide ban that sends an unmistakable signal that talent can never justify the kind of behavior that, in other circumstances, might bring a man before a judge for common assault.
It was an ill-tempered game yet it wasn’t until deep into the second half that Suarez tussled with Chiellini. At first, the evidence was ambiguous. Only afterwards could we see that his actions appeared to be almost a carbon copy of the bite on Branislav Ivanovic in the infamous match between Chelsea and Liverpool that led to a 10-match suspension.
Football has often given us the most contradictory of heroes. Diego Maradona, perhaps the f inest player of all, had a dark side that, at times, seemed almost demonic. How he struck fear into the custodians of football with his maverick unpredictability, his willingness to break protocol, his fits of petulance. He is still held up as an idol, however, with tens of thousands of people around the world signed up to his “Church”, a kind of deified fan club. They argue that his footballing genius redeems all.
Suarez is, in many ways, from the same mold: a player whose brilliance is undisputed but which is often positioned by his admirers as having the cleansing qualities of atonement.
While it is true that we can enjoy the skills of a player like Suarez, we should never allow this to mitigate our condemnation of his crimes. No quantity of goals, can alter the basic moral reality that he has bitten three men, dived his way across Europe (both in Holland and England), and was found (by an independent commission) to have racially insulted a fellow player. On any interpretation, he is in desperate need of reform.
Those who handle Suarez have attempted to finesse his image for commercial reasons. In Uruguay, they urged him to star in a series of commercials that made a joke of his tendency to dive, to berate opponents, and to generally make a mockery of proper standards of on-field behavior. At the time, most saw through this calculating and shallow ruse. Tuesday, after another episode of spite, it seems little more than a sick joke.
Suarez knows what is coming. He is familiar enough with the forensic nature of multiple camera angles and slow-motion replays to realize that he is finished at this competition. He may have been able to pull the wool over the eyes of the referee, who had to make an assessment of an off-the-ball incident in real time, but there is no way that he will be able to escape retrospective scrutiny. Italian midf ielder Daniele de Rossi missed four games at the 2006 World Cup for elbowing U.S. striker Brian McBride.
If he is banned for 15 games, he should count himself lucky.