A SHADOW OF SUAREZ PAST
Danger has gone from older Luis
LUIS SUAREZ has been involved in the good, the bad and the ugly at the World Cup – but the chances of him adding to his legend look to be shot to pieces.
The former Liverpool and Barcelona hitman has been involved in dramatic goalscoring, biting and handball incidents since 2010.
But time caught up with Suarez (below) at the Education City Stadium.
The 35-year-old, who moved back to his native Nacional to prepare for this tournament, was a passenger as Uruguay coach Diego Alonso inexplicably allowed him to lead the line instead of current Kop idol Darwin Nunez.
Anfield’s £90million man was shoved out to the wing while Suarez took centre stage, although he moved around the pitch as if stuck in treacle.
Statistics can be bent to tell almost any tale, or so they say. But these pointed in one direction – towards the exit.
At the end of 64 torturous minutes, Suarez had created no chances, taken no shots on goal, and made just seven passes –and one of those was from the kick-off.
In total, he touched the ball 18 times before making way for Edinson Cavani – as Alonso still refused to allow Nunez to come in off the flanks.
Perhaps there was a hint of admittance of failure when the Uruguay coach said: “We had three forwards on the pitch. We also have three midfielders who can score.
“But in the first half we couldn’t put pressure on Korea. We didn’t have much fluidity or creation.
“The substitutions came at the right time, when we needed them.”
Alonso could claim a moral victory, if not all the points. Uruguay twice struck the woodwork.
Once on the stroke of half-time when Diego Godin thumped a header against the foot of the post from a corner.
And in the final few seconds when Federico Valverde surprised everyone by taking a potshot from 30 yards. That crashed into the base of an upright.
At the other end, the Taegeuk Warriors played with all their usual spirit and energy.
Their afternoon might have been different had Hwang Ui-Jo not spooned over in the first half.
Spurs star Heung-Min Son played in a mask but also found life difficult out on the left instead of through the middle.
He was trying to protect a fractured eye socket sustained playing against Marseille.
South Korea coach Paulo Bento said: “Son is a player who had continuous rhythm up until his injury in the Champions League.
“He was then inactive for a considerable amount of time. He only came back into the squad in the past few days.
“It’s natural that after an injury and being exposed to more aggressive matches it will take him time to adapt again.
“We saw a dip in performance but we expect it to be back in the future.”