12 years on, Suarez is still the villain, and Ghana are still consumed by it

'I don't apologise about that,' said Suarez on the handball incident at Soccer City.

Fri, 02 Dec, 2022 - 09:10

Joe Callaghan, Doha

The first thing you remember, having not been in his presence for a few years, is that Luis Suarez talks with his hands. Which has been an irony for a dozen years now but on this day feels particularly, and pointedly, so.

He turns his fingertips inwards to himself and pinches them together when emphasising something. He raises an arm and points, nowhere in particular, to explain how he’s changed his game to try to defy time even as his body defies him. He rolls his wrists as he lists off all the things that need to change for Uruguay to shake out of their stupor and progress to the knockout stages of his last World Cup. The wrists roll and roll because there are many things that have to change.