SUÁREZ BITE OVERSHADOWS URUGUAY'S WIN AGAINST ITALY

D. Ray Morton, 25th June 2014.

Luis Suárez readjusts his fangs after taking a bite out of a clearly shocked Giorgio Chiellini

Uruguay eliminated Italy from the World Cup yesterday thanks to a late winner from Diego Godín but the focus of everyone's attention will be on the bizarre biting incident between Luis Suárez and  Giorgio Chiellini. With the clock running down, the game deadlocked at 0-0 with Italy poised to go through, Suárez, during a tangle with the Azzurri centre-half, appeared to bite down on the shoulder of his opponent. Chiellini immediately reacted by trying to elbow the Uruguayan forward off him and went to ground omitting a scream of sheer confused disgust. The referee and his officials somehow missed the incident, Suárez stayed on and Uruguay went on to win. This is the third time Suárez has bitten an opponent in his career, the most recent being his bite on Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic in 2013. Football's most unusual signature move.

The game itself was defensive, scrappy and full of niggling fouls and attempts to con the referee who had a poor showing throughout failing to stomp his authority on the situation. Mario Balotelli, who had picked up a yellow card ruling him out of any potential second round game, had been taken off by Italy at half-time, Cesare Prandelli fearing he may get sent off. He must have been stunned when Claudio Marchisio was given his marching orders in the second half for a challenge that seemed a little dangerous but hardly worthy of a straight red. That decision notably crushed Italy who had been in control of the game until that point. They were forced to sit very deep but will argue that they would have had a fighting chance had Suárez been correctly disciplined for his bite.

Italy lost, however, and manager Cesare Prandelli announced his resignation immediately afterwards. Prandelli seems to have blamed himself as he was expected to stay on until 2016 regardless of results. There have been questions over squad selection and perhaps he could have given himself a better chance by bringing Giuseppe Rossi as an alternative striking option rather than having to opt for the quite immobile Ciro Immobile or the ageing Antonio Cassano. Balotelli let his manager down badly too. His immaturity, now at age 23, looks like something he will never shake off. Why Arsène Wenger would gamble on him at Arsenal is anyone's guess. This was also Andrea Pirlo's last tournament game for Italy, possibly Gianluigi Buffon's too. A disappointing end to two glorious international careers.

But where does this leave Suárez and Uruguay now? They have an impressive Colombia to face in the second round and FIFA have promised to punish the Liverpool striker. They could very well throw the book at him and give him a lengthy ban. It could also affect a potential move to either of the two La Liga giants, Real Madrid or Barcelona. Suárez's family has hinted that his time at Liverpool will be up and Barcelona have been attempting to engineer a swap-plus-cash move involving Alexis Sánchez. Question is, will Barça do away with the Chilean, one of the players of the tournament, only to switch him with a, doubtlessly talented, but highly volatile replacement?

So praise for Diego Godín, Uruguay's saviour but shame on Balotelli and especially Suárez for making the match one of the ugliest of the competition. Uruguay advance but offer very little against Colombia who should sweep them aside without too much trouble.