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Featured Image Credit: FIFATV
Topics: Uruguay, Ghana, Football World Cup, Luis Suarez
Josh Lawless
12 years on and fans now believe Luis Suarez did the right thing in handled the ball on the line against Ghana in the 2010 World Cup quarter-final.
With the scores standing at 1-1 as penalties loomed, Ghana piled on all sorts of pressure at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.
From a free-kick in the 120th minute, a scramble ensued and Suarez ended up clearing one off the line. But when the ball beat Fernando Muslera for a second time in the same sequence, Suarez, still on the goal-line, made a split-second decision to save it with his hand and deny a certain goal.
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He was immediately shown a red card and walked towards the tunnel with his head hidden in his sky blue shirt.
Yet to continue the sheer drama, Asamoah Gyan smashed his last-gap penalty against the crossbar. Suarez, nervously watching, celebrated with sheer relief.
Uruguay then went on to beat Ghana 4-2 on penalties to set up a semi-final showdown with Netherlands. At the time, Suarez was branded a "cheat" for his antics but as time has gone on, with the video now going viral again, many have seen the light and concur that it was a "selfless act".
Effectively Suarez took one for the team with a last man foul, it was just that Gyan fluffed his line for the spot and his blushes were spared.
The former Liverpool and Barcelona striker has done a lot of despicable things in his career but this is not one of them.
Ghana players still cannot forgive him all these years later but Suarez doesn't feel as though he owes anyone an apology.
"Not at all," he said in an interview with Gerard Pique.
"I didn't kick anyone or anything like that. That's why I think that I celebrated like that for having taken a risk for something that was worth it. And I remember that I celebrated it more than a goal."
Suarez, now back at boyhood club Nacional, has been included in Uruguay's 26-man World Cup squad at the age of 35.
And both Uruguay and Ghana will run it back after the two nations were placed in Group H. They will meet in the final group game on 2 December at the Al Wakrah Stadium.