At this point, there is no question that Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez bit Italian midfielder Giorgio Chiellini. This is his third instance biting an opposing player, and he has already served a 10-game suspension for his indiscretions in the English Premier League.
Now it is almost certain that Suarez will receive a suspension that will leave him out of the rest of the tournament. Here is the incident that occurred today against Italy.
For those who haven’t seen the other instances, here they are as well:
Suarez bites Otman Bakkal while playing for Ajax in Holland.
Suarez bites Branislav Ivanovic while playing for Liverpool.
The third biting by Suarez took the world by storm as it ignited social media and news outlets. After the game, the news wasn’t about Uruguay’s decisive round-advancing victory against Italy. Instead, it was about Lucho Suarez.
I guess any part of the body is up for eating.
— Evander Holyfield (@holyfield) June 24, 2014
Suarez going with the 'if you can't beat them eat them' approach.
— Sydney Leroux (@sydneyleroux) June 24, 2014
Suarez now has to wear this the rest of the World Cup.. pic.twitter.com/VxpEpN2zpF
— White Boy Problems (@WSBProblems) June 24, 2014
"No biting!" First rule of kindergarten. #worldcup2014 #suarez
— Bud Norris (@BudNorris25) June 24, 2014
Social media exploded up so much, in fact, that ESPN's sports and business correspondant Darren Rovell said that Twitter had 100K comments on Luis Suarez today leading up to the bite, and have had two million since the incident.
The tape will be reviewed by FIFA and Suarez will likely receive a heavy suspension. The Uruguayan needs to seek help for this biting problem - and worst of all for Uruguayan fans, they will head into the Round of 16 against Colombia without their only real scoring threat. Edinson Cavani scored a penalty kick in the first game without Suarez, and had an assist to Lucho in the second game, but the PSG man isn’t a threat teams will worry about compared to Suarez. The Uruguayans will play Los Cafeteros on Saturday, and we would be shocked if Suarez is in the lineup. The squad struggled to create anything against the Italians today and, without their best scoring threat in the lineup, Uruguayan hopes of making a deep run may have been spoiled by Suarez’s appetite.