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06.07.2010 World Cup

I Used Hand of God

By Daily Guide
Suarez handling the ballSuarez handling the ball
06.07.2010 LISTEN

Uruguay striker Luis Suarez says he feels proud that he intentionally used his hands to punch out a ball from his team's goal post when they played Ghana last Friday and that what he used was the 'hand of God.'

“The 'Hand of God' now belongs to me. Mine is the real 'Hand of God'. I made the best save of the tournament.

“Sometimes in training I play as a goalkeeper so it was worth it…There was no alternative but for me to do that and when they missed the penalty I thought 'It is a miracle and we are alive in the tournament,'” Suarez explained in post match comments.

Suarez used his hands in pushing out the ball from his team's goal post after Ghana's Dominic Adiyiah had headed the goal-bound ball during extra-time of the quarter-finals at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Though the referee red-carded Suarez and awarded Ghana a penalty, Asamoah Gyan failed to score from the resultant spot kick.

Suarez's comments would anger a lot of Ghanaians who have expressed ill-feelings against his action but Uraguay's Coach Oscar Tabarez insists his side did not cheat Ghana.

“Saying we cheated Ghana is too harsh a word to use. Yes he stuck his hand out but it's not cheating. It was instinctive,” he said.

“When there is a handball in the penalty area there is a red card and the player is thrown out of the game…The player instinctively reacted and was thrown out of the match and he can't play the next match. What else do you want? Is Suarez also to blame for Ghana missing the penalty? We try to be dignified and if we lose a match we look for the reasons for it. You shouldn't look to third parties.

This is football. There are consequences to that handball and he didn't know that Ghana was going to miss that penalty,” Coach Tabarez added.

Ghana's defender, John Painstil has complained that the referee should have taken the goal after it allegedly crossed the goal post line and that awarding a penalty was not the best thing to do.

"The goal should have stood rather than the player being sent off. Yes, that is the case… In the same situation, there is no chance the Ghana players would have used our hand. In any case, we would have made sure we would clear the ball with our head," John Painstil noted.

By Halifax Ansah-Addo

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