It should take FIFA about a millisecond to rule that Uruguay's forward Luis Suarez forfeited the right to play any further part at this World Cup when he blatantly and cynically cheated against Ghana, deliberately using his hands to slap away what would have been a dead-cert match-winning goal. Confiscate his accreditation, send him packing. Deter cheats by making an example of this one.

"Foot" and "ball." It couldn't be any simpler. The most basic rule is no handling by anyone other than the goalkeeper, and Suarez slapped it in the face.

FIFA can draw up as many fair play codes as it likes, they will remain dead letters as long as cheats are allowed to prosper. Thierry Henry was allowed to escape scot-free for his double hand ball that led to France, instead of Ireland, playing (atrociously) at this World Cup. FIFA flaccidly argued that its disciplinary panel couldn't punish the French striker because the referee and his officials did not spot his cheating during the game.

That excuse won't work this time. Referee Olegario Benquerenca did his job in showing Suarez the red card. FIFA must now do its duty by throwing Suarez out of the World Cup. The automatic one-match suspension which will put Suarez out of the semifinal next Tuesday against the Netherlands isn't enough. If Uruguay wins, he should be made to miss the final, too, or the third-place game if his team loses without him, which is likely given the importance to Uruguay of his strike partnership with Diego Forlan. Because of Suarez, Ghana's players will not experience the thrill of playing those matches. It is only right that Suarez not get that privilege, either.

"Cheating is easy, but brings no pleasure," says FIFA's fair play code. Up to FIFA, therefore, to make sure that that is true.

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez's assertion that Suarez's action was a natural reflex is codswallop.

Suarez knew what he was doing. He took a calculated risk. The teams were tied at 1-1. It was the last minute of the match. Dominic Adiyiah's header was goal-bound for Ghana. So Suarez lifted both arms and pushed it away. He didn't even try to use his head or chest. He knew that the punishment for handling would be a penalty for Ghana. But that had to be better for Uruguay than losing to a last-gasp goal.

And the gamble paid off when Ghana's penalty-taker Asamoah Gyan thumped the crossbar with his shot. Suarez pumped his fists in celebration.

"I think I made the best save of the World Cup," he said afterward, tickled pink with himself.

It would be wrong in the wake of Suarez's dishonesty to push FIFA for changes to the laws of the game so that referees could award goals that are illegally and deliberately blocked, even if they don't cross the line. Basketball awards points for such eventualities, punishing teams for swatting away a ball that is already starting to go in. Ice hockey also allows umpires to declare in certain cases that a goal ward-bound shot was a goal, even if the puck did not go in.

Asking similar of football referees is not the answer. They are already struggling to keep pace with all the action in the fast modern game. Asking them to also judge whether a goal would or would not have gone in had X, Y, or Z happened, or not happened, will guarantee bad calls. Instantly calculating ball trajectories and whether a hand stopped it from hitting the net is a job for technologies like Hawk-Eye, not overworked referees.

A better solution is deterrence. Come down harder on cheats. Ruin the rest of Suarez's World Cup like he ruined it for the Ghanaians and the millions of Africans who thought Adiyiah's header was about to carry them to the first semifinal for an African team.

Suarez said being expelled from the match "was worth it" given that he stopped the goal.

FIFA must now prove him wrong.

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John Leicester is an international sports columnist for The Associated Press.

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