No one else will shed a tear for serial bad guys

Uruguay have long traded in the game’s dark arts and were at their petulant worst in crashing out yesterday

At the end there were not many sharing Luis Suarez’s tears at Uruguay’s departure from this competition. The South Americans, as is usual at World Cups, have won few friends along the way.

One of the intriguing adjuncts of this World Cup has been the way in which the huge South Asian migrant labour force in Qatar has adopted the visiting teams. You see Indians in Brazil shirts, Bangladeshis in Argentina colours, chaps in Spain and England tops. None of them has been seen in a Uruguay shirt. There is a reason: nobody wants to associate with a team who have long traded in football’s dark arts, the team who, in 2010, cheated underdogs Ghana of the chance to be the first African nation to reach a World Cup semi-final.

And, as they faced up to a Ghanaian side keen for revenge, Uruguay made no attempt to occupy the moral high ground. Rather, they were at their singular worst, full of relentless subterfuge and underhand behaviour. Here were some of their tricks. Or at least those visible from a distance.

Make Suarez captain

Knowing Ghana’s history with the player from 2010, this was Phdlevel trolling. There he was before kick-off, all smiles and cheery bonhomie, patting opponents on the chest convivially as he worked the line of Ghanaians, proffering the very hand that denied them in Johannesburg 12 years ago, knowing its significance for his opponents. It was ostentatious villainy.

When a decision goes against you, foment a row

When Daniel Siebert, the referee, was dispatched to the video screen and came back to award Ghana a first-half penalty, the fully choreographed Uruguay response moved into action. Siebert was surrounded, there was co-ordinated delay, fuss, a collective effort to undermine the referee’s authority and confidence.

While that was going on, Darwin Nunez was scuffing the penalty spot with his studs. He may have been shown a yellow card, but it worked. Andre Ayew, pushed and buffeted by opponents in the unseemly brouhaha, proceeded to deliver an abject penalty.

When you are challenged, go down as if under sniper fire

There was a superb example when substitute Edinson Cavani was tackled as he led an attack late in the second half. He fell to the turf and lay around writhing. When nothing was given, he looked up from his pain and saw the attack was still progressing. He leapt up to join in, made an initial mime show of clutching his apparently injured side, then dashed off to close down a Ghana defender as if nothing had happened. Because it had not.

When denied a penalty, behave as if it is something that ought to be referred to the Supreme Court

When Siebert visited his screen for a second time, but on this occasion decided there was not to be a penalty for Uruguay after Nunez had been tackled in the area, at least one of the Uruguay players stamped their feet in fury as they bawled into the referee’s face.

React to your exit without a hint of grace or style

The irony is Uruguay can play fine football. Their second goal by Giorgian de Arrascaeta was a thing of beauty but when it turned out their win was not enough to ensure qualification, their reaction to being evicted was pathetic. Blubbing, arguing, pushing and shoving, as good as assaulting the referee’s assistant as he made his way from the pitch, it was a disgraceful exhibition.

This is not to suggest that Ghana are saints. Nobody could describe Thomas Partey as he goes about his destructive business in midfield as the epitome of innocence. But how the neutral relished the fact that some sort of recompense was delivered for 2010. Sure, Ghana would have preferred that it was they who advanced. But at least, if they are to depart the competition, thanks to South Korea’s late victory, the serial bad guys, Uruguay, go home, too. And the truth is, they will not be missed.