Handball villain Luis Suarez, Uruguay’s “devil himself”, is back in the eye of the storm for the Ghana rematch in the World Cup tonight (11pm in Malaysia).
It is a grudge match 12 years in the making, a furious tale about cheating by Suarez, sportsmanship, and what could have been at the World Cup in South Africa.
But to some, it was an act of self-sacrifice by Suarez to intentionally use both his hands to block a sure goal, and save his team from certain defeat.
The build-up to today’s decisive Group H clash has been dominated by his extra-time handball on the goal-line from a header in the 2010 quarter-final clash.
Yesterday, a Ghanian journalist told Suarez that many in his country view the veteran striker as the “devil himself” for his sleight of hand.
Suarez, whose presence to preview the rematch was clearly provocative, declined an opportunity to apologise to Ghana for the handball.
“I’m not saying sorry because I did the handball and took the red card, but Ghana’s player missed the penalty, not me,” said Suarez, who boasted after the 2010 game, “Truth is, it was worth it”.
Suarez, 35, could line up against Ghana today along with four of Uruguay’s squad from South Africa – Diego Godín, Edinson Cavani, Martin Caceres and Fernando Muslera.
Andre Ayew is the only player from the 2010 Ghana squad in the present team, and he is now the captain. Owing to a suspension, he did not play in that game against Uruguay.
Here’s a recap of the July 2 match at Soccer City in Johannesburg, where Suarez’s on-field sin broke Ghanaian hearts.
Ahead of the game, most of Africa, enlivened by Shakira’s earworm “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)”, backed Ghana to become the first team from the continent to reach a World Cup semi-final.
The climax to the 120 minutes made the night haunting.
In the 30th minute of extra-time, with the score tied at 1-1, Ghana got a freekick 30 yards from the by-line.
Suarez cleared off the line twice. Once, from Stephen Appiah, with his knee. Once, from Dominic Adiyiah’s header, with his hands.
After taking the red card, Suarez wept, and then celebrated wildly on the touchline when frontman Asamoah Gyan crashed the resulting penalty against the crossbar.
The miss by Gyan generated the newspaper headline, “Gyan, Gyan, gone: Ghana out in penalty horror”.
Gyan, then of Rennes, was not given much more than five minutes to collect himself when the drama-soaked clash went to a shootout.
He bravely stepped up to bury Ghana’s first spot-kick in the top corner, but the nearly men ended up losing 4-2 in the tiebreaker.
The Ghanaians were predictably gutted while Uruguay advanced to the semi-final where they lost 3-2 to Holland.
Gyan, 37, wrote in his autobiography that he struggled with the “guilt and pain” of the miss. He has not featured for Ghana since the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
In a recent statement, he said: “Maybe I will move on from this horror when Ghana finally reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.”
Ghana are the third-youngest side in Qatar and if they reproduce the best of their lively attacking from the past week, there is every chance they can finish the job.
The Black Stars need a victory for a spot in the knockouts. A draw could be enough, but only if South Korea do not beat Portugal – and do so by two goals.
Uruguay are on the brink and must win. To win, they have to prove they finally have the midfield to connect a rugged defence and barrelling attack.