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| Luis Suarez leads Uruguay to win over England. Photo Credit: Getty Images |
Despite undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery a month ago, Luis Suarez made a triumphant return scoring twice in Uruguay’s 2-1 victory of England in Group D play. Suarez scored the game winner in the 85th minute of play. He was able to get behind England’s defense and then blast a shot past the goalkeeper Joe Hart into the center of net.
By: Sunil Sunderraj
Suarez managed to fire off six shots, five of them on goal. With his 40th international goal, he became Uruguay’s all-time goal scoring leader.
The first couple of minutes witnessed both goalkeepers looked shaky handling the ball inside of their respective goal mouths. In the 8th minute a yellow card assessed to Uruguay’s Diego Cordin led to an England free kick. Wayne Rooney leapt into the air for the header which bounced off the goal post.
Rooney had another golden opportunity in the 39th minute off a free kick but once again the goal post denied him a goal. This time the ball glanced off his head and crossbar. Eight minutes later Suarez scored his first goal of the match from a curl pass off the foot of Edwin Cavani, heading the ball past outstretched arms of goalkeeper Joe Hart.
Three minutes into the second half, Suarez had a fantastic chance to net his second goal of the contest on a corner kick, but Hart scrambled back at the goal line to bat away the ball. Cavani missed the net wide right on a breakaway.
A couple of scary moments in the match for Uruguay players. After making a save off the foot of Leighton Baines, goalkeeper Fernando Muslera was spiked in the leg by the cleats of Danny Welbeck. Alvaro Pereira took a knee to the face from Raheem Sterling. Periera lay knocked and motionless on the field for several seconds. Remarkably he awoke and returned to the match a few minutes later.
As time winded down in the second half, England began to step up the pressure. In the 73rd minute Muslera corralled the ball in the bread basket off a Daniel Sturridge shot on goal.
Four minutes later, Glen Johnson squeezed a pass across the box to a wide open Wayne Rooney who buried a left handed shot into back of the net for his first World Cup goal, also tying the match at 1-1.
For the first time in World Cup tournament play, England conceded 2+ goals in consecutive matches. They are 0-4-2 when trailing at halftime. Meanwhile Uruguay improved to 13-3-2 when leading at end of the 1st half. With a Costa Rica win or draw against Italy tomorrow, England is eliminated from World Cup play.