‘Latin’ jibe wrong, but mindset to win at all costs is lost in translation
LUIS SUAREZ has a trophy of a goalkeeper making a save, given to him by Uruguayan football supporters. On the plinth is one word: ‘Gracias’. So while Graeme Souness was wrong to state erik Lamela’s cheating to get Anthony Martial sent off was ‘Latin’ behaviour, there is a wider point to be made. In Suarez’s autobiography, he admits cheating and justifies it by explaining that, in Uruguay, anything a player can do to advantage his team is acceptable, whether inside or outside the rules. The symbolic trophy was awarded for punching a certain goal for Ghana off the line in the final minutes of a World Cup quarter-final. Ghana missed the resulting penalty, Uruguay subsequently progressed. Africa is still without a World Cup semi-finalist as a result. But, even so, the verdict from
home: thank you. Paolo Montero, the Uruguayan defender sent off 21 times in his career including a record 16 occasions with Atalanta and Juventus in Serie A, echoed these thoughts. football, he said, was for ‘cunning people’. ‘I don’t think it is true to say that you are disloyal to football if you feign an injury, or tug a shirt or do something else to win the game,’ he said. ‘Winning games is the purpose and cheating the referee is not a sin if it helps your team win.’ This is not to say there aren’t English cheats.
Just that, in this country, they are not celebrated for their actions. Jamie Vardy’s falls are questioned every week, and both Dele Alli and Ashley Young earned unenvied reputations after being judged guilty of simulation. Had Souness said Lamela comes from a football culture that sees no wrong in gaining advantage by any means, it would have been more accurate. There is no controversy over the Hand of God in Argentina.