FIFA - Lost in all this
Is how mediocre Italy was. Sure, the ref was poor. But in one of the most exciting World Cups since I have been alive - with last minute heroics a-go-go and a really high goal count, Italy had two goals total. They looked utterly disinterested in their first two games. And in that earlier Costa Rica one, CR was playing chess, as Italy played checkers.
Suarez is Suarez. After his 10+ game suspension, I think he should play again, albeit with the Hannibal mask. You can't blame him for biting an Italian. A) You know they will fall to the ground like a bullet-struck deer, and B) They go excellently with chianti.
The fact is, France could have had 7 goals in their last game, if you factor in the missed penalty kick and the disallowed goal in the dying seconds. Meanwhile Italy is begging the ref to wipe snot from its nose in the midst of action, as they are being scored on.
I'm of the hockey school when it comes to sports. You generate your luck. Teams like Colombia, Chile and Costa Rica have been so relentlessly high-octane that they deserve their breaks and birth to the round of 16. The only reason Italians are bitten is that someone somewhere somehow wants to at some point give them an actual justification for their tragicomedic histrionics and lamentations.
Italy is as deserving to be in the Round of 16 as Tim Tebow is to be in the NFL based on his throwing ability. And blaming the refs or Suarez for their elimination is like the dog farting and blaming you.
Pffffft.