From Montevideo to Anfield: The life and times of Luis Suarez

If you would care to ask regular football fanatics for their valuable opinions on Liverpool‘s star striker Luis Suarez, chances exist that the answers you receive are going to range from one extreme to another, with little to no middle ground. Suarez is one of the most hated/loved/controversial players in the history of the English Premier League and football history as a whole, and not many other professional footballers playing the game today can have their every single action talked about, debated and dissected piece by piece, by an overly-interested/nosy/biased media.

Coming from modest beginnings in Montevideo, Uruguay, Suarez is a perfect tale of a boy who had nothing, but got everything he ever wanted as a man, through nothing but sheer hard work, courage, determination and perseverance. Learning to play the beautiful game on the streets of Montevideo, Suarez had to decline an offer from a reputed youth national coaching establishment merely because he could not afford a pair of boots.

Rising through the youth ranks at famed Uruguayan club Nacional, the temperamental youngster was already in the news by the time he was 15, because he was red-carded for head-butting an official. At the same tender age itself, he was admonished heavily by a club coach for his partying life, with the coach categorically telling Suarez that he would never make it unless he showed more seriousness. It sparked a maddeningly passionate fire in the youngster, and the Luis Suarez we know today was born.

Suarez is a very passionate footballer, and at the 2010 FIFA World Cup he was sent off in the quarter-final against Ghana for clearing the ball with his hands. His actions directly denied Ghana a clear goal at the last second of extra-time, sending the match into penalties, which the West Africans would lose. Vilified and hated since that fateful day, for something that many of the so-called ‘moralists’ of football say they would not have done for their country, Suarez has never minced his words about the incident, going to the extent of calling it the ‘Hand of God-2′. He said:

“It was worth being sent off in this way for because at that moment there was no other choice. I’m very calm.”

Uruguay’s striker Luis Suarez (L) stops the ball with the hand leading to a red card and a penalty for Ghana during the extra-time of 2010 World Cup quarter-final match Uruguay vs. Ghana on July 2, 2010 at AFP Soccer City stadium in Soweto, suburban Johannesburg.

Becoming one of the most hated men in Ghana history, you can be dead certain that Suarez will never fancy Ghana as a holiday destination, just like Maradona would never fancy England as a destination. The handball offence was a clear offence, and Suarez was sent-off and paid the price by missing his side’s semi-final clash with Netherlands, which they eventually lost. I, for one, however cannot understand the continued persecution of Suarez for this and many more incidents. Was he responsible for Ghana missing the ensuing penalty and losing the shoot-out? Wouldn’t YOU have done that, if it meant saving your country right at the death, knowing full well that you played your last hand ( pun intended)?

Coming to the racism incident, many Uruguayans and South Americans have spoken about how the word ‘negro’ is in fact used in various parts of the continent. They spoke about how many black friends Suarez has, how is grandfather is a black and about the cultural difference between Uruguay and England. While Suarez did admit to using the term in question, the FA accused him with damaging the reputation of English football worldwide, while they were content to let a man facing even more serious racism charges captain the national team. A man they didn’t ban for nearly a year, and eventually for only four matches. Double standards maybe?

While Suarez has certainly been at the centre of the press, matched only by the madness of Mario Balotelli, what angers me as a fan is that people rarely highlight his exceptional footballing prowess while talking about him. One of the best dribblers in the world, Suarez is technically gifted, excellent at chance creation and has one of the best work rates in the game. Despite the Reds suffering a poor season last year, Suarez consistently played well, and created several chances for his side, only for his and their goalscoring woes making all the headlines. Many seem to forget that Suarez inspired Uruguay to the Copa America title in 2011, their first in 15 years, and was named Player of the Tournament, certainly an impressive feat considering the massive talent pool there (including the world’s best player).

I’m not saying that Suarez is better than Messi, as no one is, not even the man who was formerly the Premier League’s most hated player and a man who’s been similarly persecuted unfairly his entire career, Cristiano Ronaldo. But Suarez is undeniably one of the best on the face of this planet. He faced a tough childhood, and scavenged coins of the street to sustain himself in order to give him energy to play the game that has now made him a millionaire. He has scored 15 goals for Liverpool this season, only one behind the celebrated top scorer Robin Van Persie, and shows no signs of slowing down, as he is just entering his peak.

‘The Cannibal of Ajax’ has come a long way since moving to Europe to play for FC Gronigen in Netherlands just in order to be close to his girlfriend. His former coach at Ajax, the great Marco Van Basten has admitted to having his fair share of issues with Suarez, once stating, “He’s a big talent and a big worry”. Perhaps perfect words to describe Suarez.

No, Suarez has not always played by the rules. The biting, the incessant appealing and middle finger gesturing are some things that he probably he could do away with. He himself recently admitted that he tends to go to ground easily and has been working on rectifying that. His drive and desire to win are amazing, and he just hates losing. He does go overboard sometimes in attempting to win the game for his team, but that doesn’t make him a villain or a bad person. Pure passion.

Erik Nevland, Suarez’s former team-mate at Groningen, “He’s just so passionate about football that sometimes the way he expresses himself is wrong. It’s obviously something he has to work on. His passion just makes him do crazy things sometimes. He will learn, especially because of the ban.”

Luis Suarez is a hero. He is a hero in Uruguay and for the fans in every club he has ever played for. He’s also a role model for young boys from the streets looking to make it big in the beautiful game. Opposition fans will likely never take to him, but cannot help but appreciate and love his talents as a player. The hate has never concerned him one bit, and has only served to inspire him to take his game to new heights.

He’s certainly no saint, but he isn’t Judas either.