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Louis Suarez

RIO DE JANEIRO. — Luis Suarez was thrown out of the World Cup yesterday, and cast away from football for four months, as Fifa flexed its muscles and sunk their disciplinary teeth into the flawed Uruguay genius whose demonic tendency to bite opponents has given the beautiful game an ugly side.
The Liverpool player will not be able to play or train for his club or country for four months, ending his World Cup campaign after two games, and throwing his club future into turmoil after Fifa’s disciplinary committee handed down the hefty sanction for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini.

The ban — added to previous penalties for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra and for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic, means that Suárez will have been suspended for 34 matches since 2010 without receiving a red card on the pitch.

Although Uruguay immediately announced they will appeal against the ban, which they described as excessive, it won’t set aside the sanctions and that means Suarez’s World Cup show is over after two goals, and a starring role, against England and then his shock behaviour when he bit Chiellini.

His main sponsors Adidas said they will not abandon him but reminded him that his behaviour was unacceptable and it was time he cleaned his act while 888Poker, the other sponsors, said they were reconsidering their relationship with the forward.

Adidas, though, will not use Suarez for any promotional activities at the World Cup in Brazil.
“Adidas certainly does not condone Luis Suárez’s recent behaviour and we will again be reminding him of the high standards we expect from our players. We have no plan to use Suárez for any additional marketing activities during the 2014 Fifa World Cup.”

The striker will miss Uruguay’s last-16 match against Colombia in Rio de Janeiro tomorrow and will play no further part in the World Cup, if they progress, after being banned for nine competitive matches as well as fined £67 000.

Suarez is not allowed even to be in the stadium, supporting his teammates, and can’t practice with them, or any club, because his ban is “from all football-related activities” although a club interested in his services could still negotiate a deal to get him out of Anfield as has appeared increasingly likely in recent weeks.

“We are preparing our appeal now, we have three days to do it. It is an excessive decision and there was not enough evidence and I have seen more aggressive incidents recently,” Uruguay Football Federation president, Wilmar Valdez, said here yesterday.

“It is a severe punishment. I don’t know exactly which arguments they used but it is a tough punishment for Suárez. It’s feels like Uruguay has been thrown out of the World Cup. We all know what Suárez means to Uruguay and to football around the world — not having Suárez would be a loss to any team.”

The biting incident, the third in which Suárez has been involved in his career, also led Fifa’s disciplinary committee to ban the player from entering any football stadium during the ban.

“Such behaviour cannot be tolerated on any football pitch, and in particular not at a World Cup when the eyes of millions of people are on the stars on the field,” said Claudio Sulser, the chair of the disciplinary committee.

“The disciplinary committee took into account all the factors of the case and the degree of Mr Suárez’s guilt in accordance with the relevant provisions of the code. The decision comes into force as soon it is communicated.”

The ban means that Suárez, whom Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers hailed as a reformed character last season as he won both Footballer of the Year prizes, will miss nine Premier League matches and three Champions League games.

Before Fifa announced their judgment, the Uruguayan FA and even the country’s president had weighed into the issue in support of Suárez. They claimed that Suárez was the target of a conspiracy among the Italians, the English media and the Brazilian hosts to make more of the incident than it warranted.

“You shouldn’t forget that we’re rivals of many and we can be for the hosts (Brazil) in the future. This does not go against what might have happened but there’s no doubt that Suárez is a stone in the shoe for many,” said his lawyer Alejandro Balbi.

Television pictures of the incident seemed clear.
Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre said: “Liverpool will wait until we have seen and had time to review the Fifa disciplinary committee report before making any further comment.”

The first Premier League match Suarez will be available for — should he remain at Liverpool — is their trip to Newcastle on November 1. — Guardian/Independent/Sports Reporter