By Andrew Warshaw in Belo Horizonte
June 26 – Uruguay’s entire coaching staff have leaped to the defence of Luis Suarez as FIFA decides what sanctions to take over his already infamous biting episode. FIFA’s disciplinary panel was due to make a ruling either Thursday or Friday ahead of the country’s last-16 fixture against Colombia on Saturday.
“We have to resolve it either today or tomorrow,” FIFA disciplinary panel member Martin Hong told reporters. “It’s our duty to see justice done.”
A day after the episode, when Suarez bit the shoulder of Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini, Uruguay football federation president Wilmar Valdez told the online site Tenfield.com: “Luis is fine. He’s been through 1001 battles. We all know who Luis is and that’s why we have to defend him.”
Interestingly, FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who has pledged zero tolerance for serious instances of foul play, was in the crowd for match in Natal.
Suarez has already had separate bans of seven and 10 matches for biting opponents in the Netherlands and England. Valdez said Uruguay officials were sent a video of the incident by FIFA, and would respond with footage showing the Liverpool striker as a victim of Italian aggression.
“When he falls, several substitutes insult him on the ground and some members of Italy’s staff even came out of the bench to try to hit him,” Valdez said, suggesting FIFA could investigate Italy too.
Uruguay federation board member Alejandro Balbi, who is Suarez’s lawyer, blamed European media reporting. “This happened because there have been campaigns launched by the media in England and Italy,” Balbi told Uruguayan radio Sport 890.
Suarez’s teammate Diego Lugano agreed. “The British media has a vendetta against Suarez, and everyone knows that,” he said. “It’s obvious the vendetta sells newspapers in England, otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”
Lugano said he had seen “much more violent plays” than the bite at the World Cup. “It was a normal taunt in football, and the world press ends up talking about something totally trivial,” he said.
Complicating the case is the fact that if Suarez is punished and appeals, the challenge could go direct to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland for an urgent ruling.
In another interview, when asked about foreign media pressure, Valdez said: “Definitely. Here’s an issue that obviously has an impact because we continue to play at the World Cup. A lot of attention has been directed on this because Brazil has many interests involved.
“This is why I and my fellow directors are going to Rio to fight and to ensure that, if there is a penalty, it is a fair one. It could be a suspension or a warning. Those are the possibilities listed in the FIFA disciplinary code.
“We are taking all the steps we need to ensure the best possible defence because so much fuss has been created by the international media since Luis is a player of world class and there is no doubt that all our likely future rivals will not want to face Uruguay with him in our team.”
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