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Suarez Cleared by FIFA

With the player serving a lengthy ban in England, news emerged today that Luis Suarez would not be punished by FIFA for punching an opponent when Uruguay met Chile in March.

Thorsten Wagner

Luis Suarez may be in the midst of serving his ten-match ban for biting Branislav Ivanovic when Liverpool met Chelsea in April, but he has at least escaped further sanction with FIFA ruling the swing he took at Chile's Gonzalo Jara over the last international break was not worthy of retroactive punishment.

Uruguay's FA successfully argued that Suarez' attempt to punch his Chilean opponent came following Jara grabbing the striker's genitals, while also pointing to similar incidents in international action involving players like Argentina's Lionel Messi that went unpunished either on the pitch or after the fact.

Suarez will nevertheless miss Uruguay's next qualifier due to an accumulation of yellow cards while his country teeters on the edge of non-qualification for Brazil 2014. Even worse for the player and his country, that match is against Venezuela, currently two points ahead of them in the final qualification spot.

He will, however, now be available to Uruguay for this summer's Confederations Cup. And while many Liverpool fans had been eyeing up the competition as yet another chance for Suarez to go another season without a break, his England ban will at least ensure he's rested by the time he returns to action with his club in the autumn.

"It's very good news for Luis, the national team, and for the whole group," read a statement by Uruguayan FA president Sebastian Bauza on FIFA's decision not to punish Suarez. "We understand that from now on, Luis should realise that he will be watched from all sides.

"We hope that this experience, when added to others, will be useful so that he becomes the player we all want him to be, because we have no doubt of his quality as a footballer and a human being."

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