‘Devil’ Suarez not sorry for handball that haunts Ghana

Luis Suarez refused to apologise for his infamous handball against Ghana in the 2010 World Cup as he was told by a Ghanaian journalist that the African country considered him to be “the devil himself ”.

Uruguay’s match against Ghana today will be the first meeting between the teams since Suarez controversially denied Ghana a winning goal in the final moments of their 2010 quarter-final.

Suarez’s handball, and the subsequent penalty miss by Asamoah Gyan, stopped Ghana from becoming the first African nation to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.

Suarez was shown a red card for the offence, but was then seen celebrating wildly on the touchline as Gyan missed from the spot. Uruguay went on to win the match on penalties, to the despair of Ghana and its people.

Such is the strength of feeling towards Suarez from the Ghanaian population, the country’s president has called for the team to “get revenge” when they meet again 12 years later. At a pre-match press conference in Doha, Suarez was told by a Ghanaian journalist that many people in the country saw him as “the devil” and want to “retire” him. An unrepentant Suarez responded: “I don’t apologise about that. The Ghana player missed a penalty, not me. Maybe I could apologise if I made a tackle and injured a player. But in this situation, I took the red card and the referee gave a penalty.

“It is not my fault because I didn’t miss the penalty. The player who missed the penalty, he said he would do the same [as I did].”

The 35-year-old added that “you can’t just keep thinking about the past” and made the point that Giorgio Chiellini, the Italy player he bit at the 2014 World Cup, had shaken his hand and moved on.

“I played against Chiellini afterwards,” Suarez said. “I made a mistake with what I did, and then we shook hands and played. You can’t just keep thinking about the past and revenge because it would be counterproductive.”

Suarez’s comments are likely to add further emotion to the occasion as the teams go head-to-head for a place in the knockout stages. Uruguay, who have one point after two games, must beat Ghana if they are to stand any chance of progressing.

Otto Addo, the Ghana head coach, played down the significance of this reunion with Suarez, and said he hoped his players would also be willing to “sacrifice” themselves for the good of the team.

“It is about perspective,” Addo said. “If the same incident happened the other way round, and Ghana would have proceeded to the semi-finals, everyone would have said, ‘OK’. It is normal that a player would do anything he can to help his team to the semi-final.

“I wish for every player to do all he can, and sometimes to sacrifice himself with a red card. It was a very sad day for me, but for me, it is not a big topic. We are preparing for the match like every other match.”

Uruguay are yet to score at this World Cup, having drawn with South Korea and lost to Portugal, despite their impressive collection of forward players, including Suarez, Edinson Cavani and Darwin Nunez. Suarez was substituted after 64 minutes of the goalless draw against South Korea, and was then dropped from the starting line-up against Portugal.

The striker moved from Atletico Madrid to Uruguayan side Nacional this year, and admitted that his game had changed as his career comes to an end.

“I am not getting any younger,” he said. “My pace is not what it used to be. I can’t just play a long ball and run for 30 metres. I have to show my team-mates what my skills are at the moment, and just try to help out in any way that I can.”