Uruguay defends Luis Suarez as FIFA scrambles

As the world was judging Uruguay's Luis Suarez for biting a player in the World Cup, his teammates, coaches and fans in his soccer-crazy country defended the star, blaming the foreign media, his Italian opponents and uneven treatment.

World Cup organizers scrambled Wednesday to quickly decide on a punishment before Uruguay plays Colombia Saturday in the round of 16.

"We have to resolve it either today or tomorrow," FIFA disciplinary panel member Martin Hong told reporters Wednesday. "It's our duty to see justice done."

A day after he tangled with defender Giorgio Chiellini, Suarez was coping well, according to the Uruguay football federation president.

"Luis is fine. He's been through 1001 battles," Wilmar Valdez told the online site Tenfield.com. "We all know who Luis is and that's why we have to defend him."

The bite — just before Uruguay scored the clinching goal to eliminate the four-time champion Italians — will now test FIFA president Sepp Blatter's often-stated commitment to "fair play, discipline, respect."

Blatter, who was in the crowd for the Uruguay-Italy match at Natal, has pledged a zero tolerance for the darker side of the game.

Many are questioning where that leaves a player like Suarez, who has a history of disciplinary problems including separate bans of seven and 10 matches for biting opponents in the Netherlands and England.

Valdez said Uruguay officials were sent a video of the incident by FIFA, and would respond with footage showing Suarez — a striker for Liverpool and last season's player of the year in England's Premier League — as a victim of Italian aggression.

Chiellini accused of embellishment

When he falls, several substitutes insult him on the ground and some members of Italy's staff even came out of the bench to try to hit him," Valdez said, suggesting FIFA could investigate Italy.

Uruguay also will cite Brazil star Neymar getting only a yellow card in a clash with a Croatia player, Valdez said.

Uruguay federation board member Alejandro Balbi, who is Suarez's lawyer, blamed European media reporting.

"This happened because there have been campaigns launched by the media in England and Italy," Balbi told Uruguayan radio Sport 890.

Suarez's teammate and Uruguay captain Diego Lugano agreed. He also went as far as accusing Chiellini of embellishing the incident.

"The worst of all was the attitude of Chiellini," Lugano told espnfc.us. "He is a great player, has had a great career, and it is not normal in Italian football for a player to leave the pitch crying and accusing an opponent. He completely disappointed me as a man. I admired him."

FIFA's case against Suarez — announced early Wednesday — will be managed by a Swiss lawyer, Claudio Sulser, chairman of the FIFA disciplinary committee. A former international forward himself, Sulser has worked for four years at FIFA, first as head of its ethics court.

Sulser can choose to judge the offense within the scale of typical red-card incidents: A three-match ban may then be appropriate, banishing Suarez at least until the World Cup final should Uruguay advance that far.

The maximum penalty would be a ban of 24 international matches

FIFA can also choose to ban Suarez for up to two years. That would cover club and international games and would ruin a widely speculated transfer to Barcelona or Real Madrid.