Fifa World Cup 2014: Twitter sinks its teeth into 'jaws' Suarez

Uruguay striker Luis Suarez sparked a Twitter storm with his World Cup bite scandal, from pictures of him with a muzzle to a reaction from once-bitten boxing legend Evander Holyfield.

Now: FIFA charges Luis Suarez for biting opponent. If found guilty, rules call for minimum ban of 2 matches, maximum of 24 months.

Uruguay's 1-0 victory over Italy on Tuesday, which qualified them to the second round at the European team's expense, was overshadowed by allegations Suarez got away with biting defender Giorgio Chiellini on the shoulder.
"I guess any part of the body is up for eating," wrote Holyfield, whose ear was partly chomped off by rival Mike Tyson in a 1997 heavyweight fight.

Other social media users published photo montages of the Liverpool forward, who had been sanctioned twice before for biting players in the Netherlands and England.

Suarez weas an Hannibal Mask. (Twitter)

For the best #Suarez spoofs on Twitter click here

One picture shows him with the mask of Hannibal Lecter, the fictional, cannibalistic serial killer portrayed by Anthony Hopkins in "Silence of the Lambs."

In another movie meme, Suarez replaced the shark in an old poster of the movie "Jaws" with the comment: "Someone call Steven Spielberg."

Others have him sporting a dog's flea collar and many more with vampire fangs, or as part of the cast of the zombie television show "Walking Dead".

The incident made the front page of the New York Times website, while the Huffington Post's British version used the headline "Chewy Luis and the Blues."

Suarez, meanwhile, shrugged the accusations that he bit Chiellini, telling Uruguayan television: "There are things that happen on the pitch, and you should not make such a big deal out of them."

The Italian player was adamant Suarez had bitten him, showing his wound to the referee during the game and telling Italian television that he still had a mark after the game.

Uruguay forward Luis Suarez (R) puts his hand to his mouth after clashing with Italy's defender Giorgio Chiellini during a Group D football match between Italy and Uruguay at the Dunas Arena in Natal during the 2014 FIFA World Cup on June 24, 2014. Uruguay won 1-0.  (AFP)

An AFP picture showing Chiellini crying out in apparent pain and pulling down the top of his shirt to show apparent bite marks while Suarez rubbed his teeth went viral within minutes of the final whistle.

Biting history

Uruguay's forward Luis Suarez (L) reacts past Italy's defender Giorgio Chiellini during a Group D football match between Italy and Uruguay at the Dunas Arena in Natal during the 2014 FIFA World Cup on June 24, 2014.   (AFP)

The controversy may have inspired puns and posters, but Suarez could face the bite of disciplinary action once more.

Highlighting the bite's global impact, the 27-year-old star's chomp was a top Twitter trending topic with the hashtag #BanSuarez.

In 2010, while playing for Ajax in the Netherlands, he earned a seven-match suspension and was dubbed "The Cannibal of Ajax" after biting another player.

Three years later, he was handed a 10-match suspension for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic during an English Premier League game.


Others saw an advertising windfall in the uproar.

Back in Uruguay, the local McDonald's restaurant chain, using the Twitter handle @McDonalds_Uy, wrote: "Hi @luis16suarez, if you're still hungry come and have a bite of a BigMac".

Bet on a bite

While Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini reacted with horror to being bitten by Uruguay striker Luis Suarez in their World Cup match on Tuesday a handful of gamblers in Scandinavia were celebrating as their unlikely bet came up trumps.

Online bookmaker Betsafe had been offering odds of 175/1 that the Uruguayan, twice banned for biting, would sink his teeth into an opponent during the World Cup in Brazil.

Sure enough, over 100 gamblers decided that it was worth a punt. When Suarez duly bit Chiellini on the shoulder at the end of their Group D clash in Natal, it was time to celebrate.

One winner, Jonathan Braeck from Stenungssund in Sweden, bet 80 Swedish crowns ($12.04) that Suarez would bite, and the 23-year-old substitute teacher is now set for a payout of 14,000 crowns for his wager.

"First I thought I'd bet a little more, but a friend said I was just wasting my money," a delighted Braeck told the SportExpressen newspaper.

"When Italy took over the game you knew that he could go a little crazy," he added. "I didn't think that he would bite, but that he'd do something stupid. Then he did the best stupid thing that he could do."

Betsafe confirmed the wager, saying: "We can gladly confirm that our customer won 14,000 crowns because Suarez remarkably bit an opponent - again," Patrik Oqvist, Betsafe's marketing manager told the newspaper. "We had fun setting these strange odds and it's very nice that a customer got it right."

Braeck said he intends to spend some of his winnings on travelling to a Premier League game in England, but he will not be visiting Liverpool to see the man who helped fund his trip.

"It's be a trip to Manchester. I'm going to try to find someone to go with me to Mancheter United," he said.

"If I had his (Suarez) home address I'd send him a thank-you card. It was very nice of him to bite and give me a trip to Manchester."

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