Balls Galore: Suarez the manager leaves, Suarez the bitter griefs

The Mauler from Manila immediately quit the sport leaving behind the blood and gore.

(But smell of the briny red stuff must be too great a scent that he has since returned to the ring to don back the gloves with which he used to bludgeon all-comers with lustful thunder and bloody gore).

Lets move on to the ring that serves football at the highest level though.

In one corner we have Luis FERNANDO Suarez who is, or rather; was; the Honduras team coach. In the other is the more famously notorious; Luis ALBERTO Suarez DIAZ, who is this World Cup’s undisputed molar mangler.

Both featured prominently on this, the biggest stage in world football. What we can all be sure of is that the manager Suarez has given up because he failed to guide Honduras through to the next round of 16.

To the Honduran FA, failure is unacceptable. The nation from the Confederation of North, Central American, Carribean Associations of Football (CONCACAF) lost all three first round matches and Suarez decided to unilaterally quit his position. What a manful thing to do. Wise up, own up and clear up. Not many individuals would own up to their failure, take responsibility and live up to the consequences come hell or high water.

Admittedly his world cup record this time round leaves quite a lot to be desired in terms of results. Honduras has not picked up a single point in three matches, conceding a hatful of eight goals and managing to score only one.

But his personal profile and professional prospects have not exactly been harmed by this outing – and inglorious exit – in the World Cup though. He has been widely praised for the classy way in which he chose to leave the scene, assuming the blame for the team’s woeful fortunes and not harangue others for his own dismal performance.

By the time this World Cup is over, there will be many coaching and managerial appointments that will be left vacant and waiting to be filled. And for this Suarez, he has certainly not harmed his prospects of landing a plum coaching job anywhere in the world any harm at all for the commendable way he has conducted himself.

The other Suarez? Any straight thinking player would be fretting at the prospect of a vengeful world crying for retribution if not crying for recrimination.

There is already talk that were he to be sanctioned by FIFA – which has indeed been conducting a probe on the matter – and be punished with a long ban.

His current employer – Liverpool – could sue for compensation too. That should be about right; clubs are liable to pay star players huge salaries in the wholly acceptable expectation that they do not do anything that would prevent them from turning up for work fit, healthy and ready to perform.

This is going to be a delicious prospect for Employment and Labour Law lawyers who no doubt have the drive to delve into rights, responsibilities and liabilities that this can of worms that has just been opened by Suarez’s third bite!

Looking back, this is not without precedent. Former Chelsea player Adrian Mutu, an extremely talented player from Rumania who plied his trade all over Europe faced just such a sanctioned once.

In between training and match day whilst contracted to Chelsea, the young man with so much time on his hands took to snorting cocaine and was subsequently tested positive. Eventual suspension caused him to miss games for which his prodigious skills could have contributed to Chelsea’s cause. Contract broken!