LUIS SUAREZ COULD FACE SANCTION AFTER ALLEGED BITE ON GIORGIO CHIELLINI
ITALY 0, URUGUAY 1 (WORLD CUP GROUP D)
COSTA RICA 0, ENGLAND 0 (WORLD CUP GROUP D)
There was a big surprise as Italy joined England on the next plane home at the climax to the Group D games.
While the English media were trying to stay awake during the Costa Rica v England game at Belo Horizonte the real drama was happening at Estadio das Dunas in Natal.
Uruguay beat Italy with a late header to go second in the group behind Costa Rica and progress to the knockout stages – dumping Italy out of the World Cup along with England who finished bottom of the group.
Italy’s Claudio Marchisio was deservedly sent off on the hour for a nasty tackle on Egidio Rios. It was just one moment in a physical game with both sides taking a full part in the ‘battle’ on the pitch but the Italian had to go.
Even the goal scorer was controversial. Diego Godin rose to head in a late corner in the 81st minute. He probably shouldn’t have even been in the Uruguay team if he had been sent off for a second yellow card during Uruguay’s win against England in their last game.
But the real talking point will be the incident a minute before Godin scored the Uruguay goal. Giorgio Chiellini went down under a challenge in the area by Luis Suarez. The Italian was vocal and demonstrative as he got up and claimed that the Uruguayan had bit him – pulling his short down to reveal what looked like bite marks on his shoulder. Replays appeared to corroborate Chiellini’s story and Suarez appeared to feign his own injury in the aftermath of the incident to cover himself.
The incident will only add more notoriety to Suarez’s reputation. He was responsible for the deliberate handball that put Ghana out of the World Cup in 2010 and the immediate feeling of disgust was felt around the World on social media as he appeared to repeat his bite on Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic on April 21 2013 during a Premier League game against Liverpool at Anfield.
The bite on Chiellini is the third such incident for the ultra competitive Suarez, who also bit PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal while he was an Ajax player earlier in his career.
Crucially neither player was punished by Mexican referee Marco Rodriquez and this could lead to a serious punishment for the Uruguayan if FIFA chose to pursue a punishment for it.