As he has done throughout his career, he made a move so unexpected, so weird that he didn't get into any immediate trouble. In the midst of a 0-0 draw against PSV Eindhoven, a scrum surrounded the referee, and, for reasons that remain unclear, the striker opted to sink his teeth into Otman Bakkal's left shoulder. He was playing for Ajax in the Eredivisie. The first time Luis Suárez bit someone during a football match, it was 2010. The explosion, naturally, involved (and will perhaps consume) Luis Suárez. Costa Rica-England was completely irrelevant, while Italy's match against Uruguay was going to be played in unfortunate circumstances: Italy needed a 0-0 draw to advance, and the Azzurri have slow 0-0 draw written somewhere deep in their bones.īut as it turned out, the 160 minutes of dire football we had been served were not a marker of the World Cup taking a new and unwelcome turn into the unspeakable plateau of ennui that usually constitutes the sport's 'biggest stage.' Group D was a slow burning fuse, but when it exploded, it did so with a pretty good bang. June 24 was, until the 80-somethingth minute of the noon ET kickoffs, easily the World Cup's worst day. I apologise also to my manager, playing colleagues and everyone at Liverpool Football Club for letting them down. I have issued an apology and have tried to contact Branislav Ivanović to speak to him personally. I am deeply sorry for my inexcusable behaviour earlier today during our match against Chelsea.

Hockey Bois by A.L. Heard