World Cup success on horizon for Uruguay

Precisely!!! Henry and Maradona cheated and get away with it. Suarez didn't cheat because he knew that his action would undoubtedly be penalised. Cheats are those that maliciously try to confound the referees.

Thanks for the response Mike. Hard to disagree with a lot of what you've said. As you were so nice to share a little bit about your background, I will share a little bit about myself too. I have been following football since I started playing Football in school back in 1992. The 1992 Euro Cup was my first tournament, and although I am first generation Australian, I have a rich Dutch heritage and have been following the Dutch team since. More recently of course, I have also been avidly following the Socceroos and their journeys in the World Cup and Asian Cup. I agree many players in the moment may do something like Suarez did, but that still doesn't make it right. As you will no doubt have picked up from my posts, I am very big on "fairness", and what I saw during that game struck a big chord. I felt it was very unfair Ghana were forced to trade a 100% chance at goal for a 80-85% (depending on which stats you look at) chance at goal. Rules of course are rules, but that doesn't make it fair.

Not that I have an opinion in the matter of whether the quartefinals game was unjust but in futbol nothing is ever fair in a game.

P.S - although, I have to say that your viewpoint is completely understandable. Similar to your views regarding this incident, I was adament there was no foul committed by Neill in the 2006 WC against Italy. I was certain we had been wronged, and the ref had fallen for the simulated dive. There were many many people, including gurus and commentators who agreed that there was no foul. But there were others who firmly believed a foul had been committed. Sometimes the interpretation is in the eye of the beholder. Years later, I can now concede that was contact, and Neill should not have put up his hands while on the ground. But it took many years, and even now I think it's a 50-50 call either way.

Likewise.

Ok this isn't going to work. I say (and many others say, including unbiased British commentators covering the game no foul). You say foul. I agree to disagree with you and shake my head.

@ Roger, I can understand the frustration people can feel after a blatant handball that saved Uruguay at the last second. You have to agree though, he gave Ghana a penalty shot... which they missed. I don't know you Roger, nor do I know where you are from. However I happen to be Uruguayan so you might think my point of view is a bit biased. I've played soccer for over 16 years, I've been on several finals, I've lost and won some of those. When you're in the field playing a long hard game that decides whether you move on or go home... you give it all your heart, it comes to a certain point where you play with your heart and instinct. Imagine you being Suarez at that moment, take in consideration pressure, adrenaline, less than one min in the game. I don't know about you... but I would've done the exact same thing [If you watch the replay he wasn't the only one reaching with his hands], If I could bite into the ball in mid air I would have. It's a passion, and instinct nothing less... he didn't plan to cheat it happen on the spot, on the moment it was a spontaneous reaction. Also, to one of your later comments, I believe a few years ago when ever something like that did happen... Ghana would have been awarded a goal... but FIFA is always changing their rules... if anything I'd like to see technology being used to determine off side plays instead of a faulty human eye. I honestly think it would get rid of lots of arguments. Uruguay has 2 WC tittles 2 Soccer gold Olympic medals , 15 Copa Americas, we have a population of around 3.5 million - Proud Uruguayan, good times and bad.

Well let's just add liar to the list of assumptions then shall we?

I've watched the replays, and Ghana was fouled. What do you mean Fucile was nowhere near the Ghana player? He was right behind him, and caught the Ghana player's foot right in front of the assistant ref - who was in a perfect position to see the foul.

Your arguments do not back your claim of 20yrs, so, I won't be taking your word for it. :)

I think the free kick should sat in soccer , not an automatic goal, just give a red and a penalty, co for me in soccer one of the skills in mental strength and having the ability to take a penalty under pressure when it truly counts. And also one can never truly know if the goal goes in, it is inclusive a lot of the time hence the need for a spot kick penalty kick. And clearly the Ghanian players was not mentally strong enough to get the goal, yet he kick done in the penalty shoot out but was not strong enough in the on off. Totti was strong enough to get past Swarcher for italy after the controversial Lucas Neil penalty. And kewell should not off been sent off vs ghana.

Yep, as usual when this topic comes up you ask the question about the dive by a Ghana player before te scramble and all goes quiet. Roger please do me a favor and go to the sbs web site and watch the last minute of extra time. Fucile is no where near the diving Ghana player. So while I agree, Suarez did cheat, he cheated after a Ghana player cheated. Another way to look at it? Ghana cheated their way into a potential winning position and Uruguay cheated them out of it. And yes I say again that one of the first comments here suggested there was a dive and you said take your blinkers off. Mate, I'm a Uruguay fan and I'm the first to admit things have happened in the past which made me cringe. But this is not one of them.

If that's not cheating, I don't know what is. For someone who talks about watching replays, you sure jump to a lot of conclusions. Firstly, the contact was there, and the ref saw it. At best, you can say the video evidence wasn't conclusive, not that the contact didn't happen. In relation to the offside argument, you will note from the replays that the Ghana players who were offside were not involved in play. Therefore, no offside. So, Suarez cheated.

I like Maradona, although the hand of god wasn't his finest moment. And the same goes for Thierry Henry.

No hard feelings Roger. I can see that Suarez doesn't rank highly in your favourite player's list. I assume that Maradona would not rank highly either then?

Roger. Watch your language, Suarez is not a cheat. The foul called that led to Ghana's freekick was a no-foul. it was a mysterious (yes mysterious) free kick out of no where. It shouldn't have been given, there was absolutely no foul or incident. Next, the freekick is taken, and during the play there were to incidences of Ghananian offsides before the shot was taken. LOOK AT THE REPLAYS PEOPLE!!! Imagine if Ghana won with a gift of a freekick that led to a scramble in the box with two of their players in offsides position. Next, imagine that because of this injustice our star player desperately put everything on the line for his national team by sacrificing a last second penalty kick taken by Ghana's star player. Uruguay would have lost injustly. Instead, we were resurrected. The rest was pure motivation, life, courage, skill, and luck that only countered terrible luck. This luck, unfortunately, was bittersweet as we were missing one of our star strikers for the next round. Missed penalties=loss. There is nothing else to it. Suarez (proving himself then and now to be one of the world's supreme strikers) was missing in the semi-finals because of this unjust turn of events, against a Holland team that was very beatable (let's not forget the offsides goal they had). So tell me, what was unfair about that result?!? Can you provide a rational argument after first reviewing the facts and footage?

Also Alan, I am sorry for de-railing the discussion about your article. Please accept my apologies.

Guys, I have said that Suarez cheated, and that the way Uruguay progressed to the semi finals was nothing to celebrate. For that, I have been accused as being a racist, ignorant, immature, un-educated, and pretty much just plain bullied. People have also assumed that I haven't seen the game, that I am African, and that I am a new fan. Without exception, all these assumptions have been wrong. I have refrained from making assumptions about you guys, and perhaps you can do me the same courtesy? Play the issue, not the man.

It's very simple the Ghanese players dove all tournament and they thought they would get away with this one. The player got the free kick but Uruguayans are warriors on the pitch, Suarez wasn't about to let down his nation by letting that cheat get away with it so he did used extreme tactics. U said it yourself Uruguay still only had 15% chance that they would live on to play a shootout. Even then the ghanese team had a chance but they blew it. Karmas a bitch and they got what they deserved. To say Uruguay is dirty is to say that all other national teams play squeaky clean hardly. Futbol is war sometimes and in war unfortunately anything goes and Ghana had no problem with those tactics until they were used against them. And Asmoa sux he needs to stop hot dogging and make a clean penalty. Viva Uruguay!

Hernan - you make an awful lot of assumptions about me. You'll note I said 'should', indicating think the rules should be changed to accommodate these types of situations. Suarez essentially traded 0% chance of winning the game for about 15% chance of winning the game. It worked, and it was an awful moment for sportsmanship. And you're way off, I've been watching football for 20 years.