• World Cup

'Only way to stop Suarez is to kick him'

The only way England can stop Luis Suarez at the World Cup is by giving him a good kicking, according to Gus Poyet.

Suarez, who is hoping to recover from knee surgery in time for Uruguay's Group D clash with Roy Hodgson's side, is set to come up against several of his Liverpool team-mates including Steven Gerrard and Daniel Sturridge.

"You need to forget he's your team-mate and you need to kick him," Poyet, a former Uruguay international, said.

Luis Suarez underwent knee surgery last month © AP

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"I don't think Steven Gerrard wants to lose Suarez for next year. Imagine if you make a tackle that goes wrong in the last couple of minutes, a proper English tackle, and he nearly broke his ankle. But that is football."

Sunderland manager Poyet believes England's only chance of beating Uruguay is to toughen up and get ready to play the same kind of dirty tricks.

"The attitude of Uruguayans is: 'I'm not going to accept you're better than me, that I lose'. Whatever it is, to stop you, to win the game. Yeah we do that, and we are proud of that.

"Do you want to win the game more than me? You've got no chance - I will do more than you to win. "Are England too nice, do they need to get tougher? Yeah."

Suarez attracted controversy at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa when he handballed on the line in the last minute of extra-time to stop Ghana progressing to the semi-finals.

He was given a red card but celebrated wildly on the sidelines as Asamoah Gyan struck his spot-kick against the bar and Uruguay went on to win the game on penalties.

Poyet added: "I know that for you a handball on the goal line is cheating. It's not for us. It's part of the game.

Luis Suarez was sent off for handballing on the line against Ghana at the 2010 World Cup © Getty Images

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"It's part of the game like if I'm the last man and I pull your shirt and you go down and I get sent off - is that cheating? No it's not cheating.

"I know the Suarez handball was massive in England. But we thought, 'Why?' He saved it. He was sent off. It was a penalty.

"It is all about football in Uruguay. And you know the discussion going on all over the world that you cannot make kids of seven or eight play to win because they need to enjoy the game? In Uruguay you need to win at six. I tried to change that.

"I went to Uruguay for two years and was the chairman of a big organisation of children from five to 13 and I tried to convince them to not be so crazy about winning.

"How much did I succeed? Nothing. It is not in our culture."

Suarez has told his Liverpool team-mates in the England camp that he will be fit to face them, with Uruguay also confident their star man will recover from keyhole surgery on a meniscus problem last month.

Team medic Dr Alberto Pan said: "Luis is making good progress."

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