Uruguay Coach Offers to Leave Fifa Posts in Protest

Uruguay boss Oscar Tabarez wants to resign from two Fifa panels in protest at the “excessive severity” of Luis Suarez’s ban.

The 67-year-old coach has offered to leave his role on Fifa’s technical study group and strategic committee.

“It isn’t wise to be in an organisation with those who exerted pressure to promote this decision,” Tabarez said.

According to the coach, his banned striker has been made a “scapegoat” following a third incident of biting.

Tabarez announced he will take no question on arrival at his news conference, which lasted for 12 minutes on Friday, ahead of Uruguay’s last-16 encounter with Colombia.

He claimed that the ban was “more focused on the opinions of the English-speaking media.”

“(It is) a decision which, obviously, is much more focused on the opinions of the media – the media who immediately drew their conclusions at the (Italy) game – the journalists who concentrated solely on that topic at the post-match press conference,” Tabarez said.

“I don’t know what their nationality was, but they all spoke English. They concentrated on the history of Luis because of things that happened in the past.”

Suarez was handed a nine game suspension from Uruguay’s matches, four months ban from all football-related activity and fined 100,000 Swiss francs (£65, 680).

It is the third time the player has been banned following on-the-pitch biting of opponents, which take the numbers of suspension his has received from games to 26.

The Liverpool striker was banned for 10 matches for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic in April 2013 and seven matches for doing similar to PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal while playing for Ajax in 2010.

Suarez flew back to the Uruguayan capital Montevideo in the early hours of Friday morning.

Without Suarez, the South American champions face Colombia in Rio De Janeiro on Saturday night.