Uruguay. A nation whose motto literally translated means "freedom or death" with a population half that of the city of London. Oscar Tabárez - manager of the national team - before their semi final against Holland two years ago remarked that most nations have more footballers than they have people. Despite their modest size they have made an indelible mark on the face of football, winning their first two World Cups - having boycotted the two in between their victories in 1930 and 1950 - as well as a record fifteen Copa America titles. On the global stage they appeared to be something of a fallen empire to be laid to rest alongside Hungary and not likely to ever be relevant again. That has all changed in recent years as a new dawn appears to be on the horizon for La Celeste (The Sky Blue). Their success in South Africa was built on the solidity of Lugano, Diego Perez and the incredible goal scoring form of one Diego Forlan. In amongst that they had a crop of raw talented players who grew into their roles as the tournament passed. In two years, the likes of Cavani, Ramirez and Lodeiro will be ready. They will be well placed as dark horses in Brazil to trample over their dream of winning on home soil, just as they did sixty two years ago. The man who rose to prominence in between that time - the link between those two generations - is the man they call El Pistolero. Luis Suárez.
Like most, it was the World Cup in South Africa that was my first introduction to Suárez. Given the circumstances surrounding the French at the time, it wasn't too much of a stretch to predict that Uruguay could go far. They became my adopted team and I admired their traditional intensity matched with the skill of those I hadn't had the privilege of seeing before. When it comes to that tournament and Luis, there's only one incident that springs to mind. With time almost up, Dominic Adiyiah's effort was about to send Ghana through to the semi finals, until Suárez stopped it with his hand. It's something I had given a great deal of thought to, even before it's main antagonist signed for Liverpool Football Club. Not only do I applaud his actions, I think anybody telling you they'd do anything else is either lying or has never played football to any real competitive degree. What's the alternative? Let it sail beyond him and hope for better luck next time?
Football is a cruel game and there can be no more callous a fate than that which befell Ghana but in the interest of doing everything you can possibly do to win, I'm with Suárez on that one. Of course, his joyous celebration which followed Gyan's penalty miss seemingly makes his transformation into a cartoon villain complete. To someone who had been fully on board with the glorious African narrative - or even a more casual observer - it's easy to close the book on Suárez completely. He revels in his defiance of the law and of the misery of his opposition. I'm not the most patriotic but I gather Uruguayans are so you'll have to forgive me for the potential naivety of the following statement. His country had just been - quite literally - handed a reprieve. Is it not possible he could have been simply happy for his nation? Much easier to believe he was drinking in the tears of all the Ghanaian supporters around him. Without wanting to second guess his reaction I do know one thing. If that same thing had happened to us, I'd be delighted.
His arrival on these shores was bittersweet. Any drooling over the potential deadliness of a Suárez-Torres combination had barely time to drop to the floor before Torres left for Chelsea. If there was a hole in our hearts waiting for a star to fill it, it wasn't going to remain empty for very long. The aforementioned blond bombshell seemed to settle down into the English game pretty well but even that paled into comparison with what Suárez did to Man United. In being the architect to Dirk Kuyt's - maybe even the - easiest hat-trick ever scored, he had made a statement. Things got even better for him when he drilled one in from a ludicrous angle against Sunderland. The snaggle-toothed smile of Luis Suárez was infectious and there was a real optimism that we could really kick on this season. That didn't happen, for both us and for Suárez. We even arrived at a point in the season where some people were questioning his ability to finish. Let's have a look at the numbers then and see if they had a point.
The first question that needs to be asked is whether Suárez has ever been prolific or - in the case of Ajax and Uruguay - just been an important part of a high scoring team. In both cases the answer is a resounding yes. At international level his strike rate is exactly one in two (27 goals in 54 games) and that only gets better when you look at his efforts at club level. For the purposes of this I've taken league goals only but even the season in which Ajax scored over a hundred goals (106), Suárez scored a whopping thirty three percent of those goals himself, averaging over a goal a game as he topped the Eredivisie charts with thirty five in thirty three games. Overall during his time with Ajax he averaged nearly three goals every four games (80 in 110) but a very large majority of those goals (almost eighty percent) were scored after the 2007/08 season, by which time he had already spent two years in Holland getting to grips with the game. To underline that fact, his stats for the season just gone are almost identical to those of his first season in the Eredivisie with Gronigen.
Stats don't always tell the truth. Seeing is believing. What becomes very apparent at even the most fleeting observation is just how good he is technically. His close control and ability to change direction in an instant make him incredibly dangerous inside the box. Drifting out wide he does a lot of damage, because of that ability to move the ball in tight corners we often see full backs who are unable to cope with his movement and skill. As a defender he can punish you one of two ways, either by forcing you into giving away a penalty or by getting around you so it's important that when he receives the ball it's as close to goal as possible. Constantly on the move, as a focal point he works very well when you have runners from midfield or someone else alongside him, hence why all Suárez's best work has come alongside Dirk Kuyt and latterly Andy Carroll while forming - as most players do - a good partnership with Steven Gerrard.
Despite being a perpetual motion machine, there isn't much wasted in there either and he does conserve a lot more energy than you'd think, allowing people to pass it around alongside him. Having said that he does appear to be on the front foot more so than anybody in order to advantage of any mistake. Watching a lot of his goals for Ajax, it's clear Suárez is naturally very high on his own ability. Very instinctual, he doesn't often play percentage football but instead he tries to make things happen. Who he reminds me of is Peter Crouch. Obviously he's a lot more technically gifted (although at the same time Crouchie is a little underrated) but he was always one to go for things people wouldn't necessarily think of. Sometimes they come off, sometimes they don't. When it comes to scoring goals, I like having someone that is prepared to take a risk or two but with Suárez it's done because he believes fully in his ability to pull it off. Take the wonder goal at Sunderland for instance, I had no idea he'd done that before (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA0QGL_RnXQ) 4.50 onwards. There will be times when he'll smash it high into the stands but what people will say is a lack of composure is actually a great confidence in his own technique. As many people have stated, next season we'll need to get as many people scoring as possible and hopefully get the burden of making the difference off his shoulders. Without that pressure and free to express himself, who knows how good he could be next year?
Worshipped by his nation and cherished by his club, the rest of the footballing world that looks on disapprovingly. I imagine you could look at any given match and find things to dislike about him - as you could do with countless others - but that doesn't define him. To judge him is not to know him. To those that care only to follow a narrative, Suárez casts a very obvious and dark shadow over the faux moralities within the game. He's Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba or Maradona. Someone whom it's easy - comforting even - to ignore their talents because of their unsavoury veneer. I've never really understood the connection between footballer and role model. Mostly we seem to admire either their talent or money.
Simply being talented shouldn't be enough to be idolised. There are plenty of skilled footballers around the world that amount to nothing. It's how you apply that talent which determines whether or not you're worthy of admiration. I am talking specifically here about what happens on the pitch by the way. Players should only ever answer to one authority, that of the club. If they fail with that responsibility by doing something unscrupulous off the field then that's where the line should be drawn. It's not my place to turn ignore the more unpleasant aspects of Suárez's game or even defend them. Labels like cheat are bandied about almost as quickly as a player is praised for "earning" a penalty. If we're going to be picky then fouling is technically cheating. Grant Holt gave away the most fouls in the Premier League this year. Is he a cheat? Typically the answer would come back that he's fighting for his team and I happen to agree with that. If he were - let's say Uruguayan for instance - I do wonder however whether he'd be a cynical, dirty Latin yard-dog. Then again, the latent hypocrisy between one players actions and another based on their nationality is nothing new.
Alex Ferguson suggested we should get rid. He's a disgrace to the club. It really is that simple. Get rid of all these we don't want spoiling our beautiful game and everything will be alright. The idea of cleaning up the game is very admirable, but it just wouldn't work like this. Firstly, how would we decide? Big Brother style votes to decide just who has annoyed us the most this week? Even then it has no real effect. Remove Suárez as public enemy number one and someone else would step up in his place. Let's get this right. To prevent a nation of children brought up on diving, moaning and histrionics we must accept certain realities. Unfortunately those realities include the clubs we love dearly missing out. I've seen it virtually once a week in the Premier League. Somebody stays on their feet when fouled and doesn't get a penalty. We will never be able to draw the line on what is acceptable so long as there is something in it for us and so long as we're fans there will always be a conflict of interest. I'd rather teach someone how to behave rather than removing them altogether and pretending that kind of attitude has gone. I happen to think that Luis isn't even one of the worst offenders.
Some have said that Luis Suárez is a perfect example of the modern footballer. I can't help but think they're talking in negative terms but I think the point is a valid one. He's talented, impetuous and divisive, brought up in the culture of "win yesterday" football and actually managing to do well for himself. Is he hot headed? Certainly. I've seen people get into fights down the park let alone in a high pressurised game, so it's not like he'd be the first to step over the line on a football pitch. As for the man behind all that, it seems obvious that he's no different than the rest of us. Primarily that means he's capable of making mistakes. Regarding what happened on the 15th of October, I think that's been done to death. There's a friend of mine who went to law school whom I've bothered with this enough, I won't bore you with things that have probably been said better elsewhere. Those willing to condemn, I would like to point toward Suárez's work in South Africa well before all this happened in 2010. A shade of light upon a player who has been banished into the darkness, by those who judge him on the words of others.
What then of the future? It's pretty obvious that Suárez is going to be an integral part of the team moving forward, both here and abroad. The next two years going into this World Cup may very well define his career as a player given the challenges in front of him at Liverpool and the potential prize that awaits with Uruguay. He will - maybe more than anyone - benefit from the change in tempo we expect Brendan Rodgers to bring. Having the summer off - far more of it than years past anyway - will definitely make sure he's chomping at the bit when the season starts, the question is whether or not he'll be coming back to Merseyside with a gold medal or not. Playing two solid years back to back, it's quite possible this was the season when he hit the wall a little. The numbers would certainly back it up. In the thirteen games he played after coming back from the eight match ban he scored six times, a much more familiar ratio of goals to games that we'd expect to see from him. It's important we realise exactly what we have on our hands though. He is a talent that would be welcome at pretty much any club in world football right now and at twenty five is only going to get better. I don't know what's going to happen for him next season or in years to come. I do know that whatever happens, from the moment he arrived until the moment he leaves. I just can't get enough.
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