The bite was not delibrate....Suarez

Luis Suárez bite defence: I
lost balance and hit my teeth
against Chiellini
Uruguay striker claims biting Italian
player was an accident
Fifa gives reasons for unprecedented
ban
Luis Suárez has claimed he did not
intentionally bite Giorgio Chiellini but simply lost
balance and fell into him. Photograph: Daniel
Garcia/AFP/Getty Images
Tags: Luis Suárez , Uruguay, World Cup 2014 ,
World Cup , Fifa
Owen Gibson in Rio de Janeiro
Saturday 28 June 2014 09.37 EDT
Luis Suárez, the Uruguay striker banned
for four months for biting Giorgio
Chiellini, claimed in his defence to Fifa
that the shocking act was not deliberate
and he simply lost his balance and fell on
to the Italian player with his teeth.
In a defence that makes the “dog ate my
homework” excuse look plausible, Suárez
wrote to Fifa’s disciplinary panel saying
the incident was an accident. “In no way
it happened how you have described, as
a bite or intent to bite,” the forward
wrote in Spanish, in a letter dated 25
June and revealed on Saturday.
“After the impact … I lost my balance,
making my body unstable and falling on
top of my opponent,” he said in his
submission to the panel, which met on
Wednesday, a day after Uruguay had
beaten Italy 1-0 in a decisive group-stage
match. “At that moment I hit my face
against the player, leaving a small bruise
on my cheek and a strong pain in my
teeth,” the Liverpool striker said.
The player could be seen holding his
teeth following the incident with Chiellini
but the seven-strong panel dismissed
Suárez’s argument after studying the
incident from 34 camera angles. The bite
was “deliberate, intentional and without
provocation”, the ruling read. “He bit the
player with the intention of wounding
him or at least of destabilising him.”
Suárez was banned for nine Uruguay
matches and four months from all
football , including domestic Premier
League games for Liverpool. He was also
fined £66,000. The Uruguayan Football
Association said on Thursday it would
appeal against the ruling and have a
further seven days to prepare the
paperwork.
Fifa’s ruling confirmed the referee,
Marco Rodríguez of Mexico,
acknowledged in his match report that
he missed Suárez’s bite. So did his two
assistants and the fourth official. “I
haven’t seen the incident because the
ball was in another sector of the pitch,”
Rodríguez admitted in the 11-page
document.
The ban was more severe because it was
not the first time the player had been
involved in a biting incident. Suárez has
received bans for biting opponents while
playing for Ajax and Liverpool .
Another reason for the unprecedented
punishment was the Uruguayan showed
no repentance for the incident and
previous bans had not changed his
behaviour. “At no time did the player
show any kind of remorse or admit to
any violation of Fifa rules and therefore
showed no awareness of having
committed any infraction,” the Fifa
document read. The document showed a
proposal for a six-game ban was
considered but rejected as insufficient.
“The minimum punishment was not
sufficient to have the necessary
dissuasive effect. Previous bans did not
have an effect.”
Suárez, who is back in Uruguay, where
he met the country’s president and
waved to fans from his balcony, has
received plenty of backing from within
Latin America and tweeted on Saturday
to acknowledge the support: “Hi all, I
write this post to give thanks to the
outpouring of support and love I am
receiving. Both myself and my family
really appreciate it. Thank you very
much for being by my side and I want to
support all my colleagues selected for the
match against Colombia.”
— Luis Suarez (@luis16suarez)
June 28, 2014
Hola a todos, escribo este mensaje para dar
las gracias a todas las muestras de apoyo y
cariño que estoy (cont) http://
t.co/2uo0LXaqs2