Before the 2014 World Cup, Suárez had been on a PR campaign – but that lasted for about two hours of play in stifling Natal In the first half of Uruguay’s final group game against Italy at the 2014 World Cup, Luis Suárez launched a late, clumsy challenge on Andrea Pirlo, upending the playmaker with the subtlety of a man taking down a tree with a blunt axe. As Pirlo tumbled, a flailing forearm struck Suárez around the ear. Suárez, assuming the role of the wronged man, held his head, stared at Pirlo, looking hurt and shocked – shocked! – that anyone could do such a thing.Around 40 minutes later, the score still 0-0, Suárez did similar. But this time...
In dragging France to the 2006 World Cup final Zidane hinted at immortality and, once they got there, he proved his mortalityThe crowd are whistling. Something has happened. Marco Materazzi is on the ground. The match commentators are confused. They think David Trezeguet has had something to do with it but they are just guessing. Their eyes, and the eyes of hundreds of millions of people around the world, were on the other end of the pitch. They did not see it.Gianluigi Buffon did. He races to the officials on the sideline, remonstrates and points fingers. By now the rest of the players have cottoned on. On the sidelines, Marcello Lippi has to be restrained. In the midst of it...
‘This match is universally agreed by observers as the ugliest, most vicious and disgraceful in soccer history’It took two days for highlights of the match that was christened, even during the commentary, the Battle of Santiago, to be flown from South America and broadcast in Britain. Two days in which the game became, in its own brutal way, legendary, spoken of in ways which must have sent anyone with a combined interest in football and mild gore into a frenzy of excitement. “The match is universally agreed by observers as the ugliest, most vicious and disgraceful in soccer history,” wrote Frank McGhee in the Mirror. “If you think that is exaggerating, watch the film on TV. But send the kids...
Before this set of friendlies, we can focus on Russia 2018 contenders, dark horses – and England – but also the desperate need for a successful tournamentAs the friendly international spring break descends upon the season like a dose of Sunday afternoon blues, it has become a reflex response among those watching to sigh a little, to count the days, to see this severance from the teat of club football excitement as a draught of cold water, another unwelcome interruption from the dying hand of international football. Related: How absurd to boycott World Cup when Russia is so bound up in our economy | Barney Ronay Related: I’ve followed England around the world, but Russia is too risky | Philip...
Algeria fans shouted ‘fix’ as West Germany and Austria played out a mutually suitable scoreline in 1982’s ‘Disgrace of Gijón’You have to pity the youth of today. They were born to banter, they think it’s normal behaviour to tell complete strangers on the internet what they have had for their tea. And worst of all, they have never experienced proper World Cup villainy. There was Luis Suárez’s handball in 2010, yes, but that was a fleeting moment from an individual rather than an extended body of work shared between a whole squad. The World Cup – which is about great stories as much as great football – is so much richer when a team leaves the rest of the football...