“I Did The Handball, But The Ghana Player Missed The Penalty, Not Me,” – Suarez Says He Will Never Apologise To Ghanaians

 

As the two nations get ready to reunite on Friday, Uruguay forward Luis Suarez says he won’t apologize for the intentional handball that eliminated Ghana from the 2010 World Cup.

By purposefully handling Dominic Adiyah’s shot on the goal line during Ghana’s World Cup quarterfinal 12 years ago, Suarez caused one of the most contentious moments in World Cup history.

After giving up a penalty and receiving a straight red card, Suarez ran off the field and yelled in celebration as Asamoah Gyan’s penalty attempt hit the crossbar.

The Black Stars were denied the opportunity to make history by becoming the first African team to advance past the round of 16 after Uruguay defeated Ghana on penalties.

Twelve years later, on Friday, Uruguay and Ghana square off in a group stage matchup, with the winner eliminating the loser from the competition.

Thursday’s pre-game press conference featured Suarez, who was informed by a reporter that some Ghanaians refer to him as “the devil himself” and that they eagerly await his retirement.

“I did the handball, but the Ghana player missed the penalty, not me,” said the striker

“Maybe I would apologize if I did a tackle, injured a player and took a red card. But in this situation… it’s not my fault.

“I didn’t miss the penalty. The player who missed the penalty, he would do the same. It’s not my responsibility how he shot the penalty.” He added

Suarez's career has been overshadowed by a number of on-field controversies, including an eight-match suspension for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra while playing for Liverpool and other bans for biting opponents while playing in the Premier League and during his time at Ajax and Uruguay.

And Suarez said that talk of revenge in the Ghana game is "counterproductive" by pointing to how he has been able to move on from the four-month ban he received from FIFA for biting Italy's Giorgio Chiellini while playing for Uruguay at the 2014 World Cup.

"I don't know what people are saying about revenge," Suarez added. "The players playing tomorrow may have been, what eight years old back then [in 2010]?"

"They are saying I am the devil and these things, but what I did with Chiellini, I played against him afterwards, I made a mistake and we shook hands.

"You can't just keep thinking about the past and revenge because that can be counterproductive."

If Uruguay fail to win on Friday, it is expected that Suarez will retire from international football, but he said that his nation can still get a result by drawing on Uruguay's qualities as a small nation.

"We are facing challenging times," he said. "But this is our World Cup now. We'd love to be in a different situation, but we are Uruguayans and we are used to this struggle.

"We are good enough players to be in a different situation, but we can rise to the challenge against hardship.

"As footballers, we are used to making excuses, but all of our players are doing a good job in their clubs and we are here for our country, so let's stop making excuses."