It will go down as one of the most controversial plays in World Cup history, and the debate continues to rage on.
Was Luis Suarez's handball against Ghana an intelligent play and the right play, or was it cheating of the highest order and a smear on the game we all love?
What's my take? I think it was an instant reaction where Suarez realized his team's tournament would end if the ball went in so he did everything he could to stop it. He sacrificed himself to give his team a chance to survive. It was a move that almost any player would make if put in the same situation, and one I'd definitely make if put in that same situation.
What do you think of the play? Cast your vote here:
How did you vote? What did you think of the handball?
Share your thoughts on the play below.
When players stretch their conduct to such a ridiculous extreme so as to ruin the game, the rules need to be changed.
George Mikan did this in basketball. His constant blocking of shots above the rim led to the introduction of goal tending. The four corners “offense” (which wasn’t a offense at all) led to the institution of the the shot clock. Both sets of actions were legal at the time, but they ruined the game, and therefore new rules had to be instituted.
What Suarez did was penalized by the existing rules of the game, but by doing so ruined the game – even for me, and I was cheering for Uruguay. The penalty for doing this has to be more severe. In basketball there are usually 50-100 field goals in a game so a minor penalty for goal tending is sufficient. Obviously there are not many goals in soccer, so stretching one’s conduct to the point of ruining the game in order to prevent a goal has to be penalized more severely. Suarez did what he did because he knew the penalty wasn’t going to be very severe. The game was all but over, and he knew they wouldn’t have to play 10 v. 11.
One final point: why is Henry vilified and Suarez is canonized? Both used their hands to unnaturally affect the outcome of the game. Are we vilifying Henry as a sort of surrogate punishment, because he didn’t get caught we as fans have to punish him?
Galaxy G, I could not agree with you more. Soccer is the beautiful game. I have played it all of my life with passion. We just happen to live in a time in which honor has no value. Ergo, we have Wall Street types throughout our society manipulating the rules for their own immediate gratification. We have seen this same attitude with finance in order to get personal gain. We have BP oil cutting corners in order for short term gain, and the same with coal companies. Nothing has any meaning, except selfish greed, everyone else can get screwed. Perhaps we don’t like to see this in our beautiful game, but the game and how it is played is a reflection of who we as a people are. It is the spirit of rules and laws that give them validity. Suarez, and Thierry before him acted dishonorably. Their selfish actions effected millions of others.
Now why don’t we put as much thought and energy into fixing our broken society.
Yes
So just curious – there is a rule against 12 men on the pitch. It’s only a yellow, btw.
if a 12th Uruguayan player ran off the bench and tackled him as he was shooting, would that be cheating?
Why not? It meets every of the criteria those of you defending the handball have listed.
It was an intentional handball to stop a 100% certain goal, trading for a player and pk. When does it finally become cheating?
” is an absolutely legal mean
of defense”
you didn’t really just say that?
what would be illegal in your book -having the defender pull out a gun and shoot the forward? Just because it is mentioned in the rules doesn’t mean it’s legal.
poor choice of words, at best.
Thank you for making sense.
Gyan is responsible for not burying the ball, to be sure. But it’s understandable—after two hours of football at the highest level of competition, Gyan had to be exhausted.
Are you saying good players never miss penalties?
Which penalty was more important?
Well, the somewhat obvious way to punish someone more is to make the ban lengthier…
Did we get a penalty kick for the Frings handball?
“Also, That handball basically cost Ghana football at least 5 million dollars.”
No, Gyan cost Ghana football 5 million dollars.
I’m not sure how much more you can punish someone for a handball in the box. How about you cut Suarez’s hands off? An ejection and a penalty kick is enough.
If Gyan made that penalty, there would be no controversy. He missed. They lost. Now everyone is upset. Suarez got a red card and Ghana got a penalty kick. What else do you want? There is no controversy.
Neither answer to the poll is correct. It was obviously the “correct” play in the sense that anyone who had half an hour (or half a minute) to ponder the effect on the team’s win probability would do what Suarez did. Assuming that you don’t put independent moral value on following the rules of the sport, that’s kind of obvious.
It’s also a play that sets a terrible precedent. As a player, you don’t give a flying hoot about precedent (because even if a loophole gets closed, you’re as likely to benefit from it as be hurt by it in the future). As a FAN, I sure as hell care about precedent. I’ve got no interest in seeing more games decided by this kind of nonsense.
I also care about the popularity of the sport. Soccer is already viewed by many here as a game with loose, corrupt officiating (which is basically correct) which is routinely and cynically manipulated by players. This is just more grist for the mill.
(SBI-Talk about a stretch. Exactly who is using this play as a reason to bash soccer? If anything, the play and how it impacted the game was something that fans of any sport could understand. Whether you’re interfering on a sure touchdown, fouling someone on a game-winning breakaway in hoops, or trying to take out the infielder trying to turn the game-winning double play, these plays can all be accused of not being “in the spirit of fair play” but they’re all well within the context of the games.)
“(see Landon Donovan)”
Except for the immense pressure of the MLS cup…He pulled a pretty good shank job on that one.
Wow, 85% think its a great play. What a travesty. No matter what happens with a handball that stops a goal on the goaline the cheater is only rewarded. A sure goal is now an opportunity at a goal, which through statistics is about a 60-80% chance.
When its against the rules to use your hands in the sport and you then use your hands voluntarily then it is cheating. Whether or not you are caught cheating, doesn’t wipe the slate clean. You still cheated!!!
I guess its Ok to cheat.
Unfortunately, FIFA has a bunch of antiquated rules and the refs did follow the rules.
Also, That handball basically cost Ghana football at least 5 million dollars.
There are alot of rules that FIFA needs to address and change. I’m losing my patience with FIFA.
At this point, I’d rather watch the CFL right now. Yes, the Canadian Football League.
I suppose that if Suarez had used his hands and the ref did not catch it, then it would be easier to use the word “cheat.”
But he did get caught and was penalized according to the rules of the game.
Although it does not mean I don’t believe he tarnished the one BS thing that FIFA keeps beating over our heads of “Fair Play.”
And I don’t say “Smart Play”… I say that I have seen many people just “respond”.
My job in defense is to take action to defend the goal. In that split second reaction time, it is no longer a conscious decision so much as it is an automatic response. I don’t feel that he cheated – I believe it was just a reaction.
It was the only play he had. He doesn’t make it, and Uruguay go home. He takes the handball, his team is penalized, but they still have a chance.
He was properly ejected and Ghana had not just one, but two opportunities to dispatch Uruguay after that and couldn’t.
To me, this is no more cheating than if he tackled a guy from behind on a breakaway with an open net in front of him. If you care about winning, you have to take the foul and roll the dice with the PK chance.
I have to say I’m disappointed with how many of you voted that this was a smart play.
The essence of the game was lost on this play. A key play in any match should make a compelling argument why a team did or did not deserve to win. The hand ball did nothing to prove Uruguay deserved to win. Ghana had a well placed header that would have gone in. Should the Ghana player had calculated his aim to include the arm reach of the defenders? The hand ball may have kept Uruguay from certain defeat, but it not demonstrate that Uruguay deserved to win.
Don’t we as Americans pride ourselves on not diving, handling the ball, and withering on the ground in false agony? Applauding the hand ball goes against the American soccer ideal.
What will this beautiful game become if we are to encourage, applaud, and celebrate plays like this?
So I guess the new strategy at the end of a game free kick will be to put the keeper about 2 or 3 yards in front of his net and the other ten guys behind him on the line and if he misses one of the other guys can just reach up and grab it.
For those of you that say he did not break a rule, that is exactly what he did. And he got punished for it. In this instant it does seem a little unfair that a penalty kick is given from 12 yard out agains a keeper. It would be nice to see a second chance header from 4 yards out against two player who can not use their hands, but that would be ridiculous. It is what it is. Personally, Ghana can try again in 4 years just like the rest of us who have gotten screwed, 2002 USA vs Germany. 2006 USA vs Ghana (phantom foul for a penalty)
2010 USA vs Ghana – Ghana players falling all over the place to waste time after they scored the extra time goal.
As the guy said above me, maybe karma will catch up with Uruguay. I hope the Netherlands wipes the floor with them.
Speaking of basketball…
In basketball, when the ref calls a goaltending foul, the shot is counted as if it were a made field goal. That’s exactly what should happen in soccer/football when someone does what Suarez did. Awarding a penalty kick just gives the defense a chance they don’t deserve.
His play promotes cheating, and doing whatever you have to to get ahead. There is something to losing honorably. Hopefully karma will have its due and Holland will bump Uruguay out.
thank you, tactics are not going to change because of this. thats so stupid. this has been going on since the game was invented. its not some revolutionary, innovative play. i mean, please people. he didn’t do anything another player wouldnt have done. not justifying it, in fact i hate that it happened, but to suggest that tactics will change or that this sets a precedent is ridiculous.
this is bull, this is not the first time its happened, tactics are not going to be changed because of it.
You also miss the point. I acknowledged that Suarez did what he could to put his team in position to win. I acknowledged that it’s in the rules.
I’m saying there should be CHANGE to the rules to further protect the spirit of the game because I love the game. Giving someone a chance to score a goal after they’ve already done everything they needed to in order to score one in the first place isn’t the best solution to the problem.
There is rich irony here in the Ghanaians crying about how they have been cheated by the Hand of the Devil. Did we all forget how the Ghana players, once they had the lead vs the USA, spent the rest of overtime faking injuries. One Black Star got up, then went down and miraculously popped back up off the strecher as soon as he was off the field. Far from being the noble savages that their PC fans portray them as, the Last Hope of Africa showed that far from being naive, they had exceeded the rest of the world in cynical play. Oh, and the free kick that led to the Hand of the Devil was the result of the umpteenth Ghanaian dive of the World Cup.
Obviously, the punishment doled out fit the crime according to the rules, but IMHO the rules need to be changed. In a case like that – where the ball was handed on the line and clearly would have been a goal – it should be awarded a goal and the player should still be given a red card. To me, it is a real shame that Uruguay won the game in that manner. Ghana missing the penalty or not, they deserved to win the game.
Giving a penalty instead of a goal in such a circumstance, is of course the rules, but it really is ridiculous in a sport where scoring is so difficult. Another reason why there should be goal line technology and this would be another way it could be used (if the rules were changed).
See the above response to the same comment. Who’s the fool fool? 🙂
“He didn’t cheat!!! God, people learn you rules!”
LOL!
OK, good idea: why don’t you start us off with rule #1 of soccer, the main rule that drives the game and gives the entire sport its character, the one obvious king of all rules that anybody in the world who has ever heard of the game knows good and well, the rule that a kid of 5 years old can easily and immediately repeat back to you, the rule that most certainly anyone who has ever gotten anywhere within dreaming distance of world cup action has had drilled into him night and day for the majority of the years he’s spent on the planet (even if young, still!), so much so that to call his understanding of it second nature is nevertheless to underestimate how deeply ingrained it is in him.
Come on — tell us what that rule is! 🙂
KenC is spot on. Entire comment. Well done.
Yea Jay i amlost didn’t understand your arguments!!!! Learn the rules of the game fool.
“otherwise, he’d be grabbing the ball anytime it flew by him on the field of play.”
That was the dumbest comment ever.
He didn’t cheat!!! God, people learn you rules!
He didn’t cheat!!! God, people learn you rules!
FIFA does not need to do that…huh, i guess it IS easy to say things without any argument 🙂
kids are not gonna turn out bad because they save a goal with their hands coach, maybe they’ll turn out bad if they punch other kids in the nose to save a goal…anyway, give kids more credit
dude if want to talk football don’t spew crap like ‘cheated’. IT IS IN THE RULES. deal with it. And if you wouldn’t make that save for your own team then you would definitely be a fool
If you say so. Jay!!! The deepness of your reasoning is really impressive!! Have you already presented your candidacy to substitute Mr. Blatter??
I hope your stated sickness will not become critical if URUGUAY does defeat Holland and eventually win its 3rd WC!
What Suarez did was one of the most disgusting, despicable things I have ever seen in sport. He cheated. Plain and simple. You cant argue that. He denied a goal by violating the most important rule in the game in the last minute of the quarterfinals in the most important sporting event on earth. If you dont find that absolutely sickening, you are not a true fan of this sport at all.
It’s cheating to the highest degree. Taking down an attacking player is denying an OPPORTUNITY, what Suarez did was denying an actual GOAL.
I don’t care for the poll question. Would I do it? Of course! Suarez had no other choice and although I’m not claiming clairvoyance, I swear I was thinking about that very situation the night before it happened and I came to the conclusion that that is what I would do, were I put in that situation….You have to — he had to. That being said (that’s for you “Curb” fans), there should be some kind of rule that claims that that play goes against the “spirit” of the game and allows the official to override it. In hockey if the puck is going into an empty net and you throw your stick to block it, the goal still stands….something along those lines would be nice…
I sgree. But in this case, URUGUAY had nothing to loose, as the match was into the last seconds and if the goal were converted, Uruguay would be out!!
And it was not luck, but a horrible failure of GHANA!
I don’t care as long as Suarez stops diving and embellishing
FIVE FOULS: Your mistakes:
– in Basketball, the intentional foul is mainly applied at the last seconds of the game, where any point is equally fundamental as in soccer
– you want not to leave the decision of “if the ball would enter (LATER!)” to the (so reliable)referees!! In basketball,there is nothing to decide, other to state a already existing fact, that the ball when deflected is ALREADY above the rim!
– using the hand is not illegal, but foreseen in the rules. You can do it, paying with a penalty kick and a Red card!
– the rule that the hand=user will loose the next game is not there to give satisfaction to the other team, but to disincentive such action as far as possible
Sorry: You have all mixed up and the fact that Ghana lost because they were not able to convert penalty kicks, missing a total of 3 in 5 intents, cannot be discussed away. Not to mention that all originated on a (hopefully not worse than that) error of the Line referee, possibly unable to resist the impact of the fanatic spectators
I hope that you will not suffer too much if URGUAY wins tomorrow!
FIVE FOULS: Your mistakes:
– in Basketball, the intentional foul is mainly applied at the last seconds of the game, where any point is equally fundamental as in soccer
– you want not to leave the decision of “if the ball would enter (LATER!)” to the (so reliable)referees!! In basketball,there is nothing to decide, other to state a already existing fact, that the ball when deflected is ALREADY above the rim!
– using the hand is not illegal, but foreseen in the rules. You can do it, paying with a penalty kick and a Red card!
– the rule that the hand=user will loose the next game is not there to give satisfaction to the other team, but to disincentive such action as far as possible
Sorry: You have all mixed up and the fact that Ghana lost because they were not able to convert penalty kicks, missing a total of 3 in 5 intents, cannot be discussed away. Not to mention that all originated on a (hopefully not worse than that) error of the Line referee, possibly unable to resist the impact of the fanatic spectators
I hope that you will not suffer too much if URGUAY wins tomorrow!
Ives, I think your questions load this as a moral debate, when really it was an infraction covered by the laws of the game. The rules were set going in, and Ghana got a fair remedy. Its too bad for Gyan that he missed, and also Cardozo. Both played great in the tournament.
Your comment maybe true if we are talking between minute 0 and 90, but in extra time or more importantly at the end of the game, when there will be no more time. It is the ONLY play.
Only luck because of the number of events that still had to occur for Uruguay to win, not because it was the wrong tactical decision. If he doesn’t block the ball, then after that goal celebration, the referee blows the game over immediately after Uruguay kicks off.
Saurez was punished according to the Laws of the Game. This situation actually ended up better then the countless times that divers are actually rewarded with a free kick, instead of punished with a caution according to the Laws.
This is no different than a DB taking down a WR on sure TD after the DB has been beat. That play is never questioned in football.
Completely wrong play. You give up a penalty kick (which should be made) and try to equalize with a man down. Tactically a horrible decision but Uruguay got lucky.