The Sunday Mail
Luis Suárez has said that Roy Hodgson made him more determined to beat England when he denied the striker was worthy of being called a “world-class” player. Suárez ushered England towards the World Cup exit on Thursday night when he scored both goals in Uruguay’s 2-1 win in São Paulo. Hodgson played a big part in firing Suárez up for the crunch Group D clash, it seems.
After England’s defeat to Italy last Saturday, Hodgson declined an invitation to describe Suárez as a “world-class” forward who was in the same bracket as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
“He (Suárez) will only be at that level when he shows it on this particular stage (the World Cup),” Hodgson said.
Those words and the constant talk about Suárez’s knee injury, made the striker more determined to make a full recovery and defeat Hodgson’s side.
“It wasn’t revenge, but in England they talked about the injury and the coach had words that annoyed (me),” Suárez was quoted as saying on the Uruguayan website Tenfield. Suárez’s place in Uruguay’s World Cup squad was thrown into doubt almost five weeks ago when he had to have surgery because of a knee injury.
But after sitting out the 3-1 defeat to Costa Rica, Suárez returned for the England game, with deadly consequences for Hodgson’s side. Óscar Tabárez’s team face Italy in Natal on Tuesday. — Guardian.
Today’s fixtures
USA v Portugal 12AM
Belgium v Russia 6PM
South Korea v Algeria 9PM
