Uruguay\u2019s most famous hand is wrapped around an early-morning mug of mate, a traditional Chilean beverage, when Andre Ooijer bowls into the Amsterdam Arena and catches its owner in mid-interview.
\n\u201cYou\u2019re speaking to The Sun, Luis?\u201d says Ooijer, mishearing the introductions and thinking he was speaking to a reporter for the English tabloid. \u201cGood luck!\u201d
\nLuis Suarez grins at the veteran defender, takes another sip at his bitter brew, and returns to our conversation. This is not a man to easily ruffle. Public excoriations do not come much worse than the global firestorm that followed Uruguay\u2019s World Cup quarter-final elimination of Ghana.
\nThe last African nation at the tournament were the neutral\u2019s choice; their exit compounding the misfortune of missing a penalty kick with Suarez\u2019s emotional celebration of his goal-line handball that prevented a final-minute winner.
\nHoisted on the shoulders of teammates after Uruguay bested Ghana in the ensuing penalty shoot-out the striker\u2019s sense of humour further irked football\u2019s moralists.
\n\u201cI made the best save of the tournament,\u201d said Suarez, tongue firmly in cheek before claiming that his was the most famous handball now, referring to Diego Maradona\u2019s goal scored with his hand for Argentina against England at the 1986 World Cup.
\nA disgrace, came the complaints. Some argued that Uruguay should be thrown out of the tournament, others that the game be replayed. There were petitions for Fifa to change the rules so such a handball brought not just a red card but \u2018a penalty goal\u2019. No true sportsman, claimed Suarez\u2019s opponents, would behave as he did.
\nSipping on his specially imported South American brew a half year after the furore, the 23-year-old smiles when asked about the incident.
\n\u201cI think it was intuition,\u201d says Suarez. \u201cIf you were in that situation you would do the same. I did not do it with purpose, I did it unconsciously. I wasn\u2019t even aware it was a penalty. I did it because it was the only option I had.\u201d
\nThen comes the reasoning of a forward who scores so prodigiously his every game is marked by rat-a-tat blows to ankle and shin. The argument that a lover of the most thrilling part of football would place above railing against handballs.
\n\u201cI think it is far worse to kick a player when he\u2019s going through on the goalkeeper,\u201d he says. \u201cTo make a foul and hurt our opponent, is worse than my situation.
\n\u201cThe criticism wasn\u2019t a surprise. What was a little bad was after the game the only thing people were writing about me was only about the handball. It was not about my attacking, my skill or my goals. It got out of hand. But it wasn\u2019t a surprise, because the world is always looking for something to criticise.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know what would have happened if I hadn\u2019t saved that ball. I haven\u2019t thought about it. But I thought, and I will think for the rest of my life, that Uruguay were better than Ghana in that game.\u201d
\nFootball forgives faster than its observers. Within the technical departments of Europe\u2019s top clubs, the focus was not on the end of Suarez\u2019s arms but on his feet and brains. He netted three times in six World Cup starts \u2013 a strike rate still some margin below the 49 finishes taken from 48 games as Ajax\u2019s captain the preceding season.
\nAble to play left, right or centre; finishing with either foot, with forehead; from close-range or distance; there have been 139 goals in 222 club games for Nacional, Groningen and Ajax. Suarez creates as well as completes. He plays with a pleasing dynamism, revelling in taking opponents on one-to-one, and he\u2019s on the watch list of every club with the budget to buy an elite forward.
\nEarlier this year, then-Ajax coach Martin Jol fielded a call from Daniel Levy offering cash and reserve defender Dorian Dervite for Suarez.
\nTeasing his former boss, Jol told Tottenham Hotspur\u2019s chairman he couldn\u2019t afford him and waited for a grander bid. Jol has since been replaced at Ajax but the club\u2019s stance on Suarez remains unchanged. For sale. If the price is right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Uruguay\u2019s most famous hand is wrapped around an early-morning mug of mate, a traditional Chilean beverage, when Andre Ooijer bowls into the Amsterdam Arena and catches its owner in mid-interview. \u201cYou\u2019re speaking to The Sun, Luis?\u201d says Ooijer, mishearing the introductions and thinking he was speaking to a reporter for the English tabloid. \u201cGood luck!\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-274729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n