England 1 Uruguay 2 Suarez slays the Three Lions

England’s World Cup hopes are hanging by a thread as Luis Suarez returned to play the role of chief destroyer to perfection.

Wayne Rooney had cancelled out Suarez’s first half effort, but there was no reprieve when the Liverpool striker grabbed his second with five minutes to go.

It is the first time since Euro ’88 that England have lost their opening two games at a tournament and they now need a big favour from Italy to survive.

Roy Hodgson’s men need the Italians to beat both Costa Rica tomorrow and Uruguay next Tuesday, while beating the Central Americans themselves in their final game and hope to rely on goal difference.

There had been optimism in the manner in which England had played in defeat to Italy in Manaus. On this occasion, there was just despair.

The England coach had kept the same XI but made the seismic shift of putting Rooney back into his preferred position in the centre.

His Uruguayan counterpart Oscar Washington Tabarez changed five players from their loss to Costa Rica, but the important detail was the return of Suarez.

The Footballer of the Year had recovered from his knee injury to play in Sao Paulo, but the real question was whether he was properly ‘fit’. The answer 90 minutes later was emphatic.

With so much at stake, nerves were evident in both goalkeepers in the first five minutes, with Fernando Muslera and Joe Hart nearly embarrassed.

So much had been written and spoken about Rooney in the build-up to the game, but he almost provided the ideal response.

Uruguay captain Diego Godin was penalised for handball just outside the area, and Rooney’s 20-yard free-kick arched over the wall, left Muslera rooted to the spot but curled the wrong side of the top corner.

England were nearly made to pay for defensive weakness when Gary Cahill failed to clear a routine cross and Cristian Rodriguez fizzed a sweet drive just over the crossbar.

The South Americans were a different side to the sluggish one which lost their opening match, and a clever corner almost worked as Suarez pulled it back to Edinson Cavani, who couldn’t keep his shot down.

However, there was controversy approaching the half-hour mark. Godin gave away a clear foul for a block on Sturridge but the Spanish referee declined to show the Uruguay captain a second yellow card.

A set-piece almost broke the deadlock for England when Gerrard’s free-kick found Rooney at the back post, but from barely a yard out, he couldn’t keep his head down and it crashed off the bar.

That became even more important as Uruguay went in front and it was inevitable who did the damage.

Nicolas Lodeiro shrugged off a weak tackle from Gerrard to release Cavani, who looked up and clipped the perfect ball over for his strike partner.

Suarez had peeled off Phil Jagielka and planted his header from six yards out of the reach of Hart.

Just like on Saturday, England nearly conjured an instant equaliser but Muslera smartly parried behind Sturridge’s shot.

The team needed a big second half but Suarez nearly embarrassed Hart again with the ‘keeper having to scramble to keep out his goal-bound corner.

There was a bigger let off moments later as the defence was totally exposed, but Cavani failed to steer it beyond Hart.

Rooney was close to levelling matters though when he turned inside the area, and shot goalwards but Muslera made an excellent instinctive block.

Hodgson turned to his bench and sent on Ross Barkley and Adam Lallana as England’s need for a goal started to become desperate.

That’s when Rooney chose the perfect moment to score his first World Cup goal and the most important of his 40 for his country.

Glen Johnson burst into the area, rode a tackle and squared the ball across to where Rooney, with a mixture of joy and relief, steered it home from three yards.

Sturridge almost turned it round completely three minutes later when he spun sharply, but Muslera was equal to the task.

But with England pushing forward trying to win it, a hopeful long punt was their undoing.

Gerrard’s inadvertent back header put his club colleague through on goal and Suarez’s finish was emphatic as he smashed it home to shatter English hearts.

Uruguay (4-1-3-2): Muslera; Caceres, Gimenez, Godin, A. Pereira; Arevalo Rios; Gonzalez (Fucile 79), Lodeiro (Stuani 67), Rodriguez; Suarez (Coates 88), Cavani.

England (4-2-3-1): Hart; Johnson, Cahill, Jagielka, Baines; Gerrard, Henderson (Lambert 86); Sterling (Barkley 64), Rooney, Welbeck (Lallana 71); Sturridge.

Referee: C. Velasco Carballo (Spain)