The Uruguay forward is claimed to have sunk his teeth into Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini and the World Cup organisers are expected to reach a decision on Thursday over a suspension

Thursday is expected to see a verdict in Fifa’s disciplinary investigation of Luis Suarez’s alleged bite on Giorgio Chiellini.

With Uruguay having progressed to the World Cup second round by beating Italy 1-0, football’s governing body began deliberations on Wednesday in the hope of reaching a quick verdict.

“We have to resolve it either today or tomorrow,” Martin Hong, a member of Fifa’s disciplinary panel, told reporters on Wednesday. “It’s our duty to see justice done.”

Fifa confirmed that the disciplinary committee began deliberations on Wednesday evening and Wilmar Valdez, president of the Uruguayan FA, told the press: “What we know is they met for a long time. We don’t know if that’s a good or a bad situation.”

The deadline for Suarez and Uruguay to present their defence was late on Wednesday evening, with time short for a decision to be reached.

Should the forward appeal any ban handed out, Fifa might be forced to take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in order to reach a binding verdict before Uruguay’s round-of-16 meeting with Colombia.

A suspension of “fewer than three matches or of up to two months,” however, could not be appealed as per Fifa rules.

If Fifa were to judge the incident on the scale of normal red-card offences, a suspension could stretch between three and 24 international matches, but the organisation also has the option of a club and international ban of up to two years.

The Uruguay skipper believes his team-mate is a target in the British press and says evidence of the striker’s latest indiscretion is far from concrete

Uruguay captain Diego Lugano has accused the English media of blowing Luis Suarez’s latest bite incident out of proportion.

During Italy’s 1-0 loss to Uruguay on Tuesday, the Liverpool man appeared to push his teeth into Giorgio Chiellini, with the Azzurri defender pointing to marks on his shoulder as proof.

Suarez has already faced sanctions for biting incidents at club level with Liverpool and Ajax, but Lugano remains convinced that his team-mate did nothing wrong, and pointed his finger at the British press for sensationalising the story.

“I don’t know what incident you’re talking about. Are you talking about the Premier League or the national team? Have you got something against Luis?” he said to the BBC.

“Everybody knows the British media have an issue with Suarez. It must sell newspapers in England. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here.

“I don’t know what a British journalist is doing talking about Suarez. It must be popular with the British media. I don’t see another explanation.”

An image of disputed origin shared on social media showed the apparent bite marks left by Suarez on Chiellini’s shoulder, but Lugano refused to accept the evidence against his team-mate.

“The pictures don’t show anything. They show an approximation but nothing important,” he said.

Fifa have announced that they will investigate the incident, with Suarez potentially facing a two year ban from international football.

The Ecuador coach believes referee Noumandiez Doue’s performance will be examined by his superiors after a number of key decisions went against his side at the Maracana

Reinaldo Rueda believes Fifa’s referees’ committee will examine Noumandiez Doue after the Ivorian produced what he described as a “regrettable” performance in Ecuador’s goalless draw with France.

The South Americans held les Bleus despite being reduced to 10 men on 50 minutes when Manchester United winger Antonio Valencia was dismissed for a high challenge on Lucas Digne.

But their resistance proved in vain as Switzerland convincingly dispatched Honduras 3-0 in Manaus to wrap up second spot in Group E and set up a round-of-16 clash with Argentina.

For Rueda, Valencia’s dismissal was compounded by Doue’s failure to sanction Mamadou Sakho after the Liverpool defender appeared to elbow Oswaldo Minda in the head in a scrappy first half.

“It’s quite regrettable,” Rueda admitted when asked about the incident. “This is now in the hands of the committee that assesses the behaviour of referees.

“There was not the ideal behaviour in many split decisions but it’s not really worth going into now.

“Everything that happened is quite unfortunate. I’m very respectful of the referees and it’s water under the bridge.

“We lost an important man in our structure – maybe the most important for his experience – we suffered and the game ended as it did. Faced with France, it was very difficult to hold the result.”

Rueda’s contract as Ecuador coach has now expired, but he insists he is keen to continue in the role.

“Now my contract concludes and it will be assessed by the federation in Ecuador to make decisions for the future,” he added. “It seems to me that we did a great job.

“We renewed the team – it was a significant renewal – and it’s the best heritage we have for the next four to eight years, depending on how we look after these players.”