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Luis Suarez Must Behave Himself With Uruguay

By Tarek Hisham

Uruguay forward Luis Suarez (R) puts his hand to his mouth after clashing with Italy's defender Giorgio Chiellini during a Group D football match between Italy and Uruguay at the Dunas Arena in Natal during the 2014 FIFA World Cup on June 24, 2014. Uruguay won 1-0. AFP PHOTO / DANIEL GARCIA (Photo credit should read DANIEL GARCIA/AFP/Getty Images)
Uruguay forward Luis Suarez (R) puts his hand to his mouth after clashing with Italy's defender Giorgio Chiellini during a Group D football match between Italy and Uruguay at the Dunas Arena in Natal during the 2014 FIFA World Cup on June 24, 2014. Uruguay won 1-0. AFP PHOTO / DANIEL GARCIA (Photo credit should read DANIEL GARCIA/AFP/Getty Images) /
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Luis Suarez is back with the Uruguay national team after serving his 9-match ban for biting an Italy defender in the 2014 World Cup

They say that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks but Uruguay will be hoping that one of their old dogs can unlearn a few of his nasty ones. Striker Luis Suarez has officially returned from his lengthy ban and he has Uruguayans all over the world nervous that he may resort to his old habits.

Suarez is arguably the best striker in world football right now but he also has one of the worst track records of on-pitch behavior in recent memory. From his blatant handball to save Uruguay in the 2010 World Cup to his multiple biting incidents in both club and international football, Suarez has a considerable rap sheet.

The most recent incident of course is from the 2014 World Cup where he bit Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini on the shoulder during the last group match and received a subsequent nine-match ban.

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This ban included a four-month suspension of any football-related activity that extended to his club career with FC Barcelona. Despite the ban and reservations about his behavior, Barcelona broke the back on Suarez and he has helped make them one of the best clubs in the history of the sport.

What may be worrying for fans of La Celeste, the nickname for Uruguay’s national football team, is that Suarez has not been very apologetic about his behavior. He admitted to making a “mistake” but still believes that the punishment did not fit the crime.

He said, as quoted by Sky Sports:

"“I made a mistake but there was no logic to the punishment. For four months I was not even allowed to train with my club. “I was punished more than if I had taken drugs. But everyone gets what they deserve and you only have to look at how FIFA is now and that tells you everything you need to know.”"

While he does have a point about the corruption of FIFA their decision to ban him for so long was only brought on by his repeated bad behavior. Rather than accept the blame for doing something three times that is so against the laws of the game, he tries to put the onus on FIFA for giving him what he thinks is an unfair punishment.

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This leads many to believe that if Luis Suarez finds himself in a similar position he may not hesitate to do the same thing once again. There have been reports and articles that claim this behavior stems from Suarez’s insatiable desire to succeed and that he will do literally anything to achieve that but it does not excuse his behavior.

There is simply no place in the game of football for that sort of violent behavior and if he were to do something similar in the upcoming Copa America or in World Cup qualifying matches, nothing but a lifetime ban would suffice. Suarez is one of the game’s greatest players in this moment but there is no player who can act above the game and escape punishment.

Uruguay faithful must hope that whatever madness drove Suarez to bite Chiellini and two others has been forced out to him or they will be cheering for La Celeste without their talisman striker.

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