The football World Cup is no stranger to controversy and Uruguay’s star striker Luis Suarez is contributing more than his fair share to the scandal; the 27-year-old is under investigation from FIFA after video emerged of him appearing to sink his teeth into Italian defender Giorgio Cheillini.
Entering the 80th minute of the game on Tuesday night, the score stood at 0-0; seemingly frustrated by the state-of-play, Suarez got into a tussle with Cheillini in an effort to put his team ahead and appeared to deliberately bite into the defenders shoulder before dropping to the ground in an attempt to cover his actions. The Uruguayan sought to disguise the situation by falling down and clutching his mouth, as though his teeth had been damaged during the collision – he managed to escape a red card as the referee was distracted by play. He later claimed that his mouth was injured by Cheillini’s elbow as a result of the incident, although pictures of the injury to Cheillini’s shoulder seem to suggest otherwise.
Despite Uruguay’s coach attempting to play down the situation, FIFA has opened an investigation into Luis Suarez and he could face a substantial ban if the evidence proves his guilt. This is not the first time Suarez has been embroiled in controversy due to his penchant for using his teeth against opponents; he was banned from playing in 2010 and again in April 2013 for similar incidents. FIFA announced that they are currently ‘gathering all necessary information before making a decision.’