Last Saturday, Luis Suárez scored two goals against South Korea to send Uruguay to the quarterfinals. Today, he helped Uruguay slip through to the semifinals by making a play normally considered on the opposite end of the spectrum from scoring in soccer: a deliberate handball. Suárez swatted away what would have been a certain goal by Dominic Adiyiah at the Uruguay goal line.

Soccer rules discourage deliberate handballs by assessing a grievous toll: a penalty kick and a red card, meaning the offending player is ejected and...