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World Player of the Week: Luis Suarez - Uruguay
Join Goal.com in saluting another player worthy of global recognition
14 Nov 2011 09:18:00
Welcome to Goal.com's regular feature: Goal.com World Player of the Week. Each week our worldwide team of editors will put forward a selected candidate, as chosen by Goal.com International, who deserves recognition for achieving something special that matchday. It won't necessarily be the best player in the world - at least not usually - but whoever we nominate will have accomplished something amazing. It might be for a particularly awesome performance or for something praiseworthy off the pitch - either way, the person in question deserves special attention ...
Goal.com World Player of the Week #130: Luis Suarez
Club: Liverpool
Country: Uruguay
Age: 24
Role: Forward
Achievement: Scored all four goals in Uruguay's 4-0 win against Chile
Luis Suarez is one of the best players in the world, and on Friday he exhibited his class when he led Uruguay to a sensational victory over Chile in Montevideo.
The Liverpool forward scored all four of his side’s goals in their 4-0 victory in the Conmebol 2014 World Cup qualifier.
Suarez netted twice in the final five minutes of the first half at the Estadio Centenario and added two more in the second period.
It was a virtuoso performance from Suarez, who has also become a key player for Liverpool since joining them from Dutch giants Ajax in January this year.
The 24-year-old is modest as well, as he laughed off commentators drawing parallels between him and Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, saying: "Comparisons with Messi embarrass me.”
Congratulations to Luis Suarez, Goal.com's 130th World Player of the Week!
Honourable mentions
Mario Balotelli - Italy
The Manchester City striker has been in superb form recently and he was the star man in Italy’s 2-0 away victory over Poland in a friendly international last week. Balotelli opened the scoring with a sensational long-range effort and was also involved in the Azzurri’s second.
Vedran Corluka - Croatia
Croatia registered a marvellous 3-0 away victory over Turkey in their Euro 2012 play-off first leg tie last week - and Corluka was one of the stars. The defender did not allow the home side’s attacker Arda Turan any time on the ball whenever he ventured out to the left wing. In addition, he was involved in his team’s first goal and scored the third.
Robbie Keane - Republic of Ireland
The Republic of Ireland have virtually secured their berth in the Euro 2012 finals following their 4-0 away win against Estonia in the first leg of their play-off tie. At the heart of the triumph was captain Robbie Keane, who created the second goal and himself scored both the third and fourth.
Joleon Lescott - England
England recorded a shock 1-0 win against Spain at London’s Wembley Stadium in the friendly international between the two teams, and one of the key factors was the performance of Joleon Lescott at the heart of the Three Lions’ defence. The Manchester City player stood firm against the likes of David Villa, David Silva and Andres Iniesta.
Shinji Okazaki - Japan
Okazaki scored his second brace in as many games for Japan as the Samurai Blue took a huge step towards the final round of Asian qualifying for the 2014 World Cup with a 4-0 win against Tajikistan.
| Bet: | Returns: | Uruguay £13.64 | Draw £37.50 | Venezuela £85.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Uruguay £10.60 | Draw £110.00 | Venezuela £410.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Uruguay £13.00 | Draw £50.00 | Venezuela £100.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Uruguay £12.90 | Draw £52.50 | Venezuela £100.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Uruguay £12.80 | Draw £49.00 | Venezuela £103.00 |
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Goal.com World Player of the Week #130: Luis Suarez
Club: Liverpool
Country: Uruguay
Age: 24
Role: Forward
Achievement: Scored all four goals in Uruguay's 4-0 win against Chile
Luis Suarez is one of the best players in the world, and on Friday he exhibited his class when he led Uruguay to a sensational victory over Chile in Montevideo.
The Liverpool forward scored all four of his side’s goals in their 4-0 victory in the Conmebol 2014 World Cup qualifier.
Suarez netted twice in the final five minutes of the first half at the Estadio Centenario and added two more in the second period.
It was a virtuoso performance from Suarez, who has also become a key player for Liverpool since joining them from Dutch giants Ajax in January this year.
The 24-year-old is modest as well, as he laughed off commentators drawing parallels between him and Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, saying: "Comparisons with Messi embarrass me.”
Congratulations to Luis Suarez, Goal.com's 130th World Player of the Week!
Honourable mentions
Mario Balotelli - Italy
The Manchester City striker has been in superb form recently and he was the star man in Italy’s 2-0 away victory over Poland in a friendly international last week. Balotelli opened the scoring with a sensational long-range effort and was also involved in the Azzurri’s second.
Vedran Corluka - Croatia
Croatia registered a marvellous 3-0 away victory over Turkey in their Euro 2012 play-off first leg tie last week - and Corluka was one of the stars. The defender did not allow the home side’s attacker Arda Turan any time on the ball whenever he ventured out to the left wing. In addition, he was involved in his team’s first goal and scored the third.
Robbie Keane - Republic of Ireland
The Republic of Ireland have virtually secured their berth in the Euro 2012 finals following their 4-0 away win against Estonia in the first leg of their play-off tie. At the heart of the triumph was captain Robbie Keane, who created the second goal and himself scored both the third and fourth.
Joleon Lescott - England
England recorded a shock 1-0 win against Spain at London’s Wembley Stadium in the friendly international between the two teams, and one of the key factors was the performance of Joleon Lescott at the heart of the Three Lions’ defence. The Manchester City player stood firm against the likes of David Villa, David Silva and Andres Iniesta.
Shinji Okazaki - Japan
Okazaki scored his second brace in as many games for Japan as the Samurai Blue took a huge step towards the final round of Asian qualifying for the 2014 World Cup with a 4-0 win against Tajikistan.
Leave your notes of congratulations for Luis Suarez below, or discuss who else deserves a place in the spotlight this week...
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Make Your Prediction
Uruguay - Venezuela
Uruguay
Venezuela
Prediction Submitted
Most Popular Predictions
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Uruguay 1-2 Venezuela
- 20.46 %
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Uruguay 2-0 Venezuela
- 10.71 %
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Uruguay 3-1 Venezuela
- 9.9 %
Live!
England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 2-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.
Hosted by Joe Doyle
Hosted by Joe Doyle
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
19:32 BST
We're getting plenty of people saying it was boring. PLENTY. But Spain scored seven goals in eight games at the World Cup and I didn't hear too many of their fans complaining. Or as Fran Stinchcombe points out on Twitter: "If we had lost but played free flowing attacking football would these people still have moaned?"
19:24 BST
No, no, no. I'll have none of that Emile Heskey shouting anymore! Hello, it's me, it's me, it's that D-O-Y-L-E. Yes, I'm Joe Doyle, and I'll be here for all the reaction to that England game. First things first, how did everyone see that game? Good performance? A touch boring? Let me know on Twitter.
19:17 BST
Right, that’s me, Danny Hart, done. Joe Doyle is itching to retain his LIVE! crown for the evening. England reaction, Netherlands-Northern Ireland updates and much, much more - Doyle will be across it all. England are gonna win the Euros! And remember: EMILE HESKEY. Cheerio!
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