BRAZIL: FOOTBALL/SOCCER: Uruguayan fans celebrate their qualification into the World Cup final 16 after beating Italy 1-0

Record ID: 351653

  • Title: BRAZIL: FOOTBALL/SOCCER: Uruguayan fans celebrate their qualification into the World Cup final 16 after beating Italy 1-0
  • Date: 24th June 2014
  • Summary: NATAL, BRAZIL (JUNE 24, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF URUGUAYAN FAN RAMON RAMALLO OUTSIDE THE STADIUM WITH A HUGE FLAG SOUNDBITE (Spanish) URUGUAYAN FAN RAMALLO SAYING: "It was sensational! We were so nervous. Unfortunately I couldn't get a ticket so we watched the match in a bar here outside with 50 other Uruguayans." FANS COMING OUT OF THE STADIUM AFTER THE MATCH SOUNDBIT
  • Embargoed: 9th July 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA2J4RP3ABZH8NO6G5GIQO6M768
  • Story Text: Uruguayan and Italian fans on Tuesday (June 24) a nail-biting match in Natal to determine which of the teams would advance through to the knockout rounds.
    With just nine minutes to the end and tensions high, Uruguayan defender Diego Godin booted the match's singular and dramatic goal.
    With the Italians unable to equalize in the remaining time, the goal saw the team simultaneously booted from the tournament, taking the Celeste through to the last 16 with Group D leaders, Costa Rica.
    "It was sensational! We were so nervous," said Uruguayan fan Ramon Ramallo, who watched the game in a nearby bar along with a host of compatriots, after having missed out on tickets for the stadium.
    Italian nerves, however,turned to indignation after what some felt was an unfair match.
    "The referee was biased!" said Italian fan, Teresa, "He didn't like Italy, he liked Uruguay."
    "That is football for you. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose," accepted Italian fan Cladio Finicio, "It only got interesting when Uruguay had the advantage of an extra man (when Italy's Claudio Marchisio was sent off). But it wasn't good football."
    Further indignation and a certain d��vu swept the fans as Uruguayan star-striker Luis Suarez left a pronounced bite-mark in Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini's shoulder, towards the end of the match.
    The incident brought flash backs of Suarez's first biting controversy back in April 2013 when, representing Liverpool, he gnawed Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic.
    Uruguayan fan, Roberta, was not phased by the brawl, celebrating the idea that with Suarez and Godin on their side, the Celeste would never lose.
    The team may be forced to rely on Godin from now on, however, as FIFA has begun a process of investigation into whether Suarez will face a disciplinary ban.
    "I am a fan through and through and I swear I have never suffered so much," said Uruguayan fan Alejandro, lamenting that he would never make it inside a World Cup game.
    Fifa's disciplinary code has the potential to ban a player for a maximum 24 matches.
    Any ban at this stage, however, could seriously harm Uruguay's chances of repeating their 1950 glory, when the side stripped Brazil of the title at the very Maracana where this year's final will be staged on July 13.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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