海角大神

It was the chomp that rang out across the world 鈥� except for in Uruguay.

The nation鈥檚 top player, and someone who is emerging as one of the best footballers globally, Luis Su谩rez, put his hunger for a win against Italy last night on full display.

Just moments before Uruguay scored the winning goal to progress on to the World Cup knock-out round, Mr. Su谩rez and Italy鈥檚 Giorgio Chiellini collided 鈥� shoulder to mouth.

Mr. Chiellini pulled down his jersey to show off the bite mark on his shoulder (a panicked teammate of Su谩rez's desperately tried to pull the shirt back up) while Su谩rez grasped at his teeth, implying an unexpected blow to his pearly whites. No penalty card was issued.

Soccer players are infamous for their theatrics on the field 鈥� but this incident has highlighted a big divide between Latin American fans and those watching in Europe.

While US and European media immediately lambasted Su谩rez鈥檚 behavior with headlines like聽The Many Crimes Of Luis Su谩rez,聽Soccer's Notorious Supervillain; Uruguay鈥檚 Su谩rez,聽Known for Biting, Leaves Mark on World Cup, and Luis Su谩rez聽needs help after biting Giorgio Chiellini 鈥� what he did was not just rash but entirely self-destructive, in the Uruguayan press the incident is framed much differently.

The story line in Uruguay appears to be collective denial 鈥� with the Montevideo-based Ultima Noticias website referring to it as the 鈥渁lleged bite鈥� in its coverage, despite video footage that shows clear contact. Television station Tenfield ran a story saying the high definition television recordings of the event聽weren鈥檛 clear enough to imply any wrongdoing. The report says the collision didn鈥檛 become an issue until the British media 鈥� which has long disliked Su谩rez, who has played for Liverpool since 2011 颅鈥� started making a big deal out of it.

Meanwhile, one of the top read stories on Uruguayan sport site, Ovaci贸n, focuses on the fact that聽Chiellini is no angel, noting that 鈥淟uis Su谩rez is on the tip of everyone鈥檚 lips with his supposed biting of Giorgio Chiellini,鈥� but the Italian defender 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 have a history of good behavior on the pitch.鈥�

The story goes on to cite examples of dirty plays by Chiellini, like the time he fractured an opponent鈥檚 leg 鈥� and only received a yellow card.

The thing is, Su谩rez has a track record. He鈥檚 been busted for two previous biting incidents while playing in European leagues. He鈥檚 now under investigation by FIFA and is at risk of at least a two-game ban and up to a maximum of 24 months off the field.

Fans ok with biters

Fans are defending Su谩rez as well, though frequently they're doing so while acknowledging the bite took place.

"We needed to win, so if you have to hit you hit, if you have to bite you bite," Barbara Giordano, a law student in Montevideo told Reuters.

"It's the 'Garra Charrua'!," she said, referring to Uruguay's legendary fighting spirit.

One Uruguay fan on Twitter, @sofipeixoto, wrote, 鈥淎nd all the talk about Suarez鈥檚 supposed "bite" and not anything on the Uruguayan victory, and how it eliminated 2 European teams in just 5 days.鈥�

Mexico's version of The Onion had fun with the news, linking it the prevalence of bribes there, referred to in Spanish as "small bites." ElDeforma.com wrote Su谩rez was looking into becoming a Mexican national since he heard Mexico liked "small bites" so much.

Uruguay fans may think the European media has an agenda against Su谩rez, but Chiellini says FIFA鈥檚 the real problem:

"Suarez is a sneak聽and he gets away with it because FIFA want their stars to play in the World Cup,鈥� Chiellini told Sky Sport Italia. 鈥淚'd love to see if they have the courage to use video evidence against him."聽