FIFA World Cup: Baichung hails Luis Suarez, criticises Wayne Rooney for missed chances

In an exclsuive chat with Aditi Tyagi of Zee Media, former Indian skipper Baichung Bhutia hailed Luis Suarez`s match-winning performance and criticised Wayne Rooney for missing out on several opportunities.

Aditi Tyagi

Despite Wayne Rooney`s first World Cup goal, England lost their second consecutive match in FIFA World Cup 2014. In an exclsuive chat with Aditi Tyagi of Zee Media, former Indian skipper Baichung Bhutia hailed Luis Suarez`s match-winning performance and criticised the England forward for missing out on several opportunities. Excerpts from the conversation: Many people are of the view that the England football team is somewhat similar to the Indian cricket team which does well in the IPL but fails to deliver on international tours. If you look at England`s record over the years, they haven`t achieved anything substantial in international tournaments. Their last big win in a tournament was the World Cup in 1966. Their players do well in the Premier League but then there are many other players who come from different countries and do well too. Luis Suarez did well in the Premier League this season and even in yesterday`s match, he got two opportunties and converted both of them and has almost knocked out England from the tournament. I would like to tell our viewers about the actual winner of yesterday`s match - dulce de leche. It is a special dish from Uruguay and the players carry it wherever they go. In 2010 too, they had taken it to South Africa and Uruguay had reached the semis there. In the first match, they carried 40 kgs of this dish but were not allowed by the Brazilian authorities who said that the documentation had not been done in a proper way and the players said that they lost the match because they didn`t get to eat dulce de leche. While playing in different countries, the players face a major problem about food. The Indian players face these problems a lot. Players who are used to eating Indian food struggle while touring European countries. Apart from the climate, the food plays a very important role. Thus Uruguay are very right in saying that the right food has enhanced their performance. Apart from this dish, another major aspect for Uruguay was Luis Suarez. Suarez had a brilliant season in England where he scored 31 goals. Five players from the England squad are his team-mates in Liverpool. He knows their game pretty well. Ahead of this tournament, there were speculations that he might not even play the tournament. Wayne Rooney`s first World Cup goal also went in vain? Wayne Rooney couldn`t capitalise on all the opportunities unlike Suarez who converted two off two. Even though he got the monkey off his back with his first World Cup goal, but I don`t think it was a special one. Rooney`s family was present there and even though they were little disappointed with the result, at the same time they were delighted after his first World Cup goal. No matter you score the goal or not, ultimately your team should win. Thus I am sure Rooney`s family would be upset as England didn`t win. They are now in a tricky situation where they are depending on Italy for moving into the next round. Even when I scored a goal and my team didn`t win, it wasn`t a happy moment for me. Italy will play a big match today and England would be keenly watching it. Italy need to win the match to keep the hopes alive for England. So today Rooney will cheer for the Italian players. Tell us about this situation when you have to cheer for your rivals. All the English fans and the players would be praying for Italy`s win. They will have to win against Costa Rica, as even if it`s a draw, England will be knocked out. Thus Rooney won`t do anything for 90 minutes, but pray for Italy`s win.