Johannesburg : The ‘Hand of God’ returned to haunt the beautiful game for the second time in the ongoing World Cup when Luis Suarez’s blatant goalline handball from a Dominic Adiyiah shot in the dying moments of the extra time saved a certain goal and paved the way for a dramatic Uruguay victory over Ghana at the Soccer City Stadium.
The Ajax striker, who received a direct red card from the Portuguese referee Olegario Benquerenca for the offence, later claimed the “Hand of God” now belonged to him.
“The Hand of God now belongs to me,” boasted Suarez. “Mine is the real Hand of God. I made the best save of the tournament. Sometimes in training I play as a goalkeeper, so it was worth it.”
An unrepentant Suarez said he had no choice but to handle the ball as it could have been the end of the World Cup for Uruguay. “I did it so that my teammates could win the shoot out. When I saw (Asamoah) Gyan miss the penalty, it felt great,” he said.
“It’s difficult to be sent off in a World Cup match, it’s complicated. But the way ,in which I was sent off, was worth it,” Suarez added.
In the group league, Brazil’s Luis Fabiano scored against Ivory Coast after twice controlling the ball with his hand. Despite protests from the Ivory Coast players, the referee allowed the goal to stand as he thought the Brazilian striker used his chest to control the ball.
Naturally, Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac didn’t find the entire episode too funny and blamed a “sporting injustice” for Ghana’s agonising exit from the World Cup.
“This is a sporting injustice, but I congratulate Uruguay for their victory,” he said.
“I don’t know what would I tell Suarez if I could speak to him now. Of course we had a penalty but we were not lucky. I am very proud, we managed to achieve a great result and I know that we did not deserve to lose,” Rajevac said.
Expectedly, both Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez and top striker Diego Forlan jumped to Suarez’s defence almost immediately.
While Tabarez argued that Suarez’s act was unintentional, Forlan felt his fellow forward had greatly sacrificed in the interest of the nation.
“Saying we cheated Ghana is too harsh a word to use. We also abide by what the referee did — it could have been a mistake. Yes he (Suarez) stuck his hand out but it’s not cheating. I don’t think it’s fair to say that,” an angry Tabarez said.
“I think it was instinctive. The player instinctively reacted and was thrown out of the match and he can’t play the next match. What else do you want? Is Suarez also to blame for Ghana missing the penalty,” shot back the Uruguayan coach in the post-match press conference.
Teams
Uruguay: Fernando Muslera, Diego Lugano (Andres Scotti, 38th), Jorge Fucile, Mauricio Victorino, Edinson Cavani (Sebastian Abreu, 76th), Luis Suarez, Diego Forlan, Diego Perez, Maximiliano Pereira, Egidio Arevalo, Alvaro Fernandez (Nicolas Lodeiro, 46 th)
Ghana: Richard Kingson, Hans Sarpei, Asamoah Gyan, John Pantsil, John Mensah, Anthony Annan, Samuel Inkoom (Stephen Appiah, 74th), Sulley Muntari (Dominic Adiyiah, 88th), Isaac Vorsah, Kwadwo Asamoah, Kevin Prince Boateng
Referee: Olegario Benquerenca (Portugal)
