World Cup: Five ugly incidents that marred the beautiful game

PARIS – Uruguay striker Luis Suarez once again hogged the limelight for the wrong reason over an alleged biting incident involving Italian Giorgio Chiellini in their final group game. The 27-year-old Liverpool FC star faces expulsion from the World Cup for biting Chiellini as FIFA confirmed it had opened disciplinary proceedings against him.

Suarez, banned twice before for biting opponents, could be banned for up to 24 games when FIFA hands down its verdict.

Suarez’s bite is just the latest in a long line of ugly incidents that have marred the beautiful game’s biggest event.

Here are five of the most notorious incidents in previous World Cups:

Battle of Berne

Brazil were at the centre of a notorious brawl in Switzerland in 1954, when their quarter-final against Hungary became immortalized as the “Battle of Berne.” The result, a 4-2 victory for Hungary, has become a footnote of a match which is a strong contender for the dirtiest game in World Cup history. The match was marred by three sendings off and several mass brawls, and was interrupted by several invasions from Brazilian officials and media.

Schumacher’s night of shame

To say that German goalkeeper Harald ‘Toni’ Schumacher left an indelible imprint on the 1982 tournament would be an understatement. The curly-haired netminder became a hate figure in the 58th minute of the semi-final with France with the match level at 1-1 substitute Patrick Battiston had just shot at goal only for Schumacher to charge and elbow him deliberately in the head. Battiston slumped unconscious to the ground and required minutes of treatment. Battiston was stretchered off the pitch accompanied by his close friend Michel Platini. He suffered three broken teeth and a damaged vertebra. “Tell him I’ll pay for the crowns,” was Schumacher’s unrepentant response after the match

‘Hand of God’ strikes down the land of ‘God Save the Queen’

The 1986 World Cup was all about Diego Maradona, both the very good and the very bad side of him. Both were seen in the quarter-final against England, the very good being his extraordinary individual goal that put them 2-0 up in a game they would win 2-1. However, his first goal is equally as famous but for all the wrong reasons as somehow he managed to beat the far taller England goalkeeper Peter Shilton in the air and the ball went into the net.

Rijkaard and Voller spit spat

Matches between Germany and the Netherlands were always high-octane affairs dating back to the brutal Nazi Occupation during World War II. This last 16 game in the 1990 finals was no exception as Dutch defender Frank Rijkaard and German striker Rudi Voller – two of the most respected players at the time – enjoyed their moment of notoriety. Tempers boiled over early on with Rijkaard being booked for a foul on Voller, the Dutchman reacting by spitting at the back of the perm-haired striker’s head.

Zidane loses his head

Zinedine Zidane was seen as a role model and an icon in France. The 2006 World Cup final appeared to be the ideal setting for perhaps their greatest ever player to bid farewell and perhaps add a second World Cup to the one he had won in 1998. All started well with him opening the scoring but Marco Materazzi levelled and an increasingly fractious game went into extra-time. Materazzi, an old style hardman central defender with a penchant for provoking opponents with foul comments, finally ‘scored’ his second goal when Zidane, unable to take any more of his remarks about his sister, headbutted him in the chest 10 minutes from the end of extra-time. – Rappler.com