Uruguay 2 – 1 England L. Suárezby f100000575791389
After a month of will he / won’t he speculation, we now have an answer: not only did he, but he did it in the most spectacular of fashions. A pair of goals on either side of the half from Uruguay striker Luis Suarez was more than enough to send England crashing to their second loss in as many games and leave the Three Lions teetering on the brink of elimination from the World Cup.
Not only does all but seal the fate of the opponents he swore he’d be fit in time to face, but it sees Uruguay receive a substantial bump in their claim to a spot in the knockout round. In the build-up to what was one of the most anticipated matches of the Group Stage, Uruguay boss Oscar Tabarez warned that his star striker may not be fully fit after returning to the line-up for the first time since undergoing knee surgery a mere month ago; though he looked a slight bit off the pace, he was still clinical enough to put Roy Hodgson’s men to the sword with a pair of typical Suarez finishes.
His movement may have been a little less than perfect and maybe he wasn’t quite able to wriggle with his trademark panache, but it’s all about putting the ball in the net and he did just that, heading in a teed up cross from Edinson Cavani in the first half which he knew beat England ‘keeper Joe Hart before he even thought to react and, after Wayne Rooney gave the English a glimmer of hope with his first World Cup goal ever deep in the second, he lashed home a trademark blast that left the contest in little doubt.
It wasn’t too long ago that Hodgson too a shot at the Uruguayan goal machine and questioned whether or not he was truly a world class player; if those haven’t been well and truly answered yet, then it’s time to find yourself a new game to watch. This one is obviously lost on you…
