World Cup: Suarez Is Not A Hero

The 2010 World Cup is not without its controversies. Then again, find me a world cup without one and I'll buy you some twist ties.

In past years, nothing was recorded and posted on the internet and so any grievances were tucked away in the minds of the victims or catalogued in a book. Neither spreads like wild fire like youtube does. That's why we are approaching, possibly, a tipping point with world soccer; in North America anyway.

Some say soccer mirrors life in that it governs itself with laws but there will always be cheats who will test the limits of those laws or break them out right. True enough, but soccer is a game and there are things it can do to improve its image if they can drop the 'tradition is our heritage' crap. Better yet, technology can erase some of the subjectivism that causes so much grief and disbelief.

I've already made my views clear about where I stand on video replay in any sport. You're an idiot league if you resist it. In the case of FIFA, Sepp Blatter (I swear if I see that twirp go down an present the trophy to the 2010 champions I will definitely make a stink given he snubbed Italy in 2006) should resign outright if he chooses to ignore this. Enough of the garbage we saw in the USA-Slovenia; England-Germany games.

The other thing is to bring in true, professional refs. In addition, add a referee on the pitch to focus on dives and dirty play. Last, I would install a clock that way play stops and we'll be spared of all the shenanigans of dropping to the ground and making incoherent changes with seconds left to kill time.

Another aspect of soccer that must be dealt with is the punishment for a deliberate hand ball. In basketball, the referee can call goaltending if a blocked shot is deemed to have been engaged too late thus impeding a sure basket to the offensive player. I would have something similar in soccer. It's easier to tell, after all, if a ball is going into a soccer net than if a basketball is going through the hoop; in other words, it's more of a subjective call in basketball.

Uruguay's Luis Suarez (I love the "what me?" act in soccer) prevented a sure goal for Ghana when he enthusiastically swatted the ball with his hands as if he was a keeper. Actually, as you can see in the picture, he'd fit right into a volleyball team. This was not instinctive. You can tell when a hand ball is instinctive. Henry wasn't instinctive. Sneijder wasn't instinctive and Suarez was mostly certainly not instinctive. It was as cynical as the Thierry Henry hand ball.

Now. In the context of the rules as they stand, Suarez did the "right" thing. He made a basic calculation. He reduced what was a sure 100% goal to a 50% chance to the extent his goalie can stop the ensuing penalty. He received a red card for his troubles and will rightly miss the next match. Ghana missed the shot and Suarez's gamble paid off. All legit insofar as the rules go.

However, two questions arise: Should we reward cynical play this way? And, should he be made into a national hero?

The answer, of course, if you have any sense of sportsmanship or even a moral code, is no. What should have happened, in theory, is award the goal (even if you had to go to replay), send his sorry ass of the field and have him miss the next game with a possible fine.

It's the only way to make something "whole" as they say in court.

Here's another problem FIFA was lucky not to have happen: What if the ref missed it? That would have been even more outrageous.

Guess what? Uruguay ended up winning the match on penalties - ironically. And now Suarez is made out to be a hero, if not some Macchiavellian genius. France did the same to its favorite son following one of the most infamous act of thuggery in world cup soccer history. Zidane was made into some sort of folk hero for defending the "honor" of his sister after some trash talking. Please. It was the actions of a player who was known to lash out violently and was simply "played" by another. It was selfish and it was weak. Luckily for France, it restored some of its bearings when it resisted the temptation to turn Henry into a hero.

This sort of stuff reminds me of Charles Mackay and his book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. A type of group think mentality sets in in soccer that exploits the 'us v. them' mentality. It happens often enough. Hobbes, that under rated libertarian, understood man can be so primal even in times of supposed progress. And soccer brings out not only joy in people and fans alike but a nasty, brutish nationalism.


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To be fair, Suarez isn't alone. Every country has indulged itself in bad behavior including the other quarter finalists Spain, Germany, Holland, Brazil and Argentina.