Don’t be so quick to cast Suarez as the villain

As the fallout of the Ghana/Uruguay quarterfinal still takes place one thing has struck me about the game.

In the dying moments of extra time supposed United target Luis Suarez was sent off for hand balling a Ghana effort off the line, he was red carded and Ghana were awarded a penalty that they subsequently missed and has since been labelled a cheater amongst other things.

I am not a fan of cheating and I don’t advocate such things but I recognise a difference in cheating and doing what you have to do for the better of your team. Amidst all the hype surrounding Ghana being ‘a continent’s last hope’ it appears people have lost sense.

We would all like to say we are honest human beings and that in the same position we wouldn’t do the same but the fact is that’s a lie. All of us would have done the same thing and had our team gone on to win, accepted the praise for sacrificing yourself for your team.

Let’s play out a scenario, swap Ghana for Germany and Uruguay for England and Wayne Rooney for Suarez, I don’t think he would be slaughtered for it.

In fact lets not do a scenario, lets work with real life. Start of the 08/09 season and we played Zenit St. Petersburg in the Uefa Super Cup. Losing 2-1, Paul Scholes attempted to handle the ball into the net late on. He was caught and sent off but rather than lambast him as a cheater we laughed at lovable Paul Scholes or put it down to a moment of madness.

Need another example? Here’s a good one.

United were playing Newcastle in the 97/98 season and had begun to lose our position atop the table, a position we had held for 6 months. We had lost to Arsenal, our closest rivals, the week before and needed a win to solidify our position.

At 1-1 with 10 minutes to go Solskjaer was brought on as we chased a result. We got a late corner and as we were sought the points piled men forward. Beckham swung it in but it was cleared quicker than expected and Newcastle broke. Rob Lee ran through clear on goal, one on one with Van der Gouw, and when it looked like he was about to snatch the points for Newcastle, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who was 10 yards behind Rob Lee initially,brought him down just outside the box and got a straight red.

As he went off he told David Beckham, who ran over to show appreciation,

“I had to do it,”

He left the field to a standing ovation and this was part of the legend that was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Nobody called him a cheat for such a thing or would even dare to do so, as he did it for the good of his team.

So before you go casting stones at Suarez and calling him every name under the sun, realise he didn’t commit the act selfishly like Maradona’s ‘hand of God’ goal, rather it was a selfless act for the good of his team who had battled for the previous 120 minutes.