Rare News Desk
Four-time world champion Italy was knocked out of the World Cup soccer tournament by underdog Uruguay today. But this surprising result was overshadowed by something more strange, something that could become known as “the bite shown ’round the world.”
Videos by Rare
It’s wasn’t the start of the Zombie Apocalypse, but it looked like it. Late in the second half, Uruguay striker Luis Suárez put his face on Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini shoulder right in front of the Italian goal. Chiellini reacted like he had been stung by a giant bee, immediately throwing his arm back at Suárez and then falling to the ground.
Suárez, in what looked like an attempt to cover his misdeed, fell to the ground feigning injury to his face. Play continued because the referee didn’t see the incident. When play was stopped and it became apparent that no penalties were forthcoming, Chiellini jumped up and pulled his jersey down off his shoulder to reveal obvious teeth marks in the middle of a reddish bruise.
Professional sports photographers, with their gigantic lenses, immediately zoomed in. Within minutes pictures were posted on Twitter. Within minutes, photo shopped pictures of Suárez started appearing; with a dog cone-collar, with a Hannibal Lecter mask, as a zombie munching on human flesh, etc.
Ten minutes later, Uruguay scored the game’s only goal, ending Italy’s World Cup hopes for another four years. The tiny South American country, with a population of only 3.3 million, is punching way above its weight class on the world stage.
It hasn’t been announced yet whether FIFA will review the Suárez incident. It is within the rules for them to do that, and to administer punishment if they believe it is warranted.
This opens up the possibility that Uruguay may have to play at least their first playoff game without their number 1 star. If that happens, Suárez will have gone from hero to zero in only a few days. On June 19 he scored twice in Uruguay’s 2 to 1 victory over England.
There’s some precedent here and it goes heavily against Suárez. The world famous striker, who plays for Liverpool, bit into Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic on April 20, 2013 in a British Premier League match. Before that, in 2010, he chomped on another player in Holland, which resulted in a seven game suspension.
The bite-shown-around-the-world is reminiscent of 2006 World Cup head butt by French striker Zinedine Zidane. In the final game against Italy, Zidane exchanged words with Italian defender Marco Materazzi as the teams went into overtime, and then Zidane head butted Materazzi in the chest.
Zidane was sent off, and Italy went on to win the cup on penalty shots. But wasn’t the end of the story. The clip was poured over by tabloid journalists, who even went so far as to hire lip-readers to determine what was said. Several lawsuits were brought forward. There’s even a bronze statue of the head-butt incident set up in Paris.
It might be premature to be casting a statue for Uruguay’s capital Montevideo, but Suárez’s dentist should definitely pull those records.
