Football Classic: Suarez's handball that denied Ghana a match-winning goal

In a quarter-final in World Cup 2010, Uruguay took on Ghana. They drew 1-1 in the last minute of extra-time. Ghana had a free-kick, the ball dropped into the box and Muslera - Uruguay's goalkeeper - found himself in no man's land, helpless to claim the loose ball. Suarez, made a goal-line clearance by clocking the ball out deliberately with his hand.

The referee instantly spotted Suarez's act, and promptly brought out the red card, ruling the striker out of the next game. Suarez even acted somewhat surprised upon the booking and left the

ground with his face buried in his jersey. Although Uruguay still weren't sure of a spot in the semis, Suarez's act of gamesmanship kept them afloat.

The pressure thus shifted to Asamoah Gyan, Ghana's penalty taker. But unfortunately, the football gods did not deem it his day. The penalty missed off the bar and the final whistle for regular

time blew. And Suarez, started celebrating frantically before entering the tunnel.

Uruguay went on to win on penalties, and Suarez went on to become public enemy number one in Ghana.

A Suarez-less Uruguay though, couldn't stretch their run beyond the semis as they bowed out of the tournament with a 3-2 loss to eventual runners-up the Netherlands, before suffering a loss at the hands of Germany by a similar margin to finish at the fourth spot in the tournament.

For Ghana, as well as for many others in the football world, Suarez had become something of a villain. At the same time, there were a few passing his act off as 'instinctive', something that should be forgotten with the passage of time. The man of the hour himself though showed little regret over his controversial act. "The Hand of God now belongs to me. I made the best save of the tournament," were his words to be precise.

Love him or hate him, one can't deny the kind of impact that Suarez has had on the fortunes of the teams he's played for. Unlike Lionel Messi and some of the others he's played alongside, it doesn't look like he's going to go down in football history with the legacy of a hero.