MONTEVIDEO: Uruguay icon Luis Suarez announced his retirement from international football on Monday, confirming that he will hang up his boots following Friday’s 2026 World Cup qualifier against Paraguay in Montevideo to end a 17-year career with his national team as their top scorer with 69 goals.

The 37-year-old, who has 142 caps for his country, made his international debut in 2007 and was key in the squad that reached the semi-finals of the 2010 World Cup and won the Copa America a year later.

“Friday will be my last match for my country,” an emotional Suarez told a press conference. “The fact that is my decision to retire and that I’m not retired because of injuries or that they stop calling me for one thing or another, that gives me a lot of comfort, it helps me individually.

“It’s difficult but it gives me peace of mind that until the last game I have given my all, and that flame has not been extinguished little by little,” the striker added.

The former Barcelona and Liverpool striker is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation and scored the stoppage-time goal against Canada that secured third place at the Copa America in July.

He added that one of his aims was to show he could continue to contribute to the national team.

“My dream was for my children to see me win something important with the national team … that last goal was very nice for them and even though it wasn’t a trophy to take home, it was very nice for them,” he said.

“I wanted to show people again that I can continue to contribute to the national team and, well, I had the Copa America and yes, I could have done it [retired] perfectly after that, but having analysed the situation, I want to do it with my people, in my stadium.

“I want my children to live this experience. Saying goodbye with the people here is something that I don’t know if many have done.”

Suarez, who was infamously kicked out of the 2014 World Cup after being handed a four-month ban for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini, helped Uruguay capture the 2011 Copa America, where he was named player of the tournament, and would eventually represent the South American country in nine major tournaments.

Suarez said that inspiring Uruguay to that Copa crown had been the highpoint of his career.

“I wouldn’t trade the Copa America title for anything,” he said. “It was the best moment of my career. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

A dynamic, skilful attacker with a lethal eye for goal, Suarez was also never far from controversy.

As well as the biting incident that ended his involvemment in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, he was also one of the villains of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, when his cynical handball on the goal-line denied Ghana what would have been a late winner in the quarter-finals.

Suarez was sent off for that offence and Ghana subsequently missed the ensuing penalty, allowing Uruguay to sneak into the semi-finals after a penalty shoot-out.

Controversy also dogged Suarez throughout his club career, notably in 2011 when he was handed an eight-game ban by authorities in England for allegedly racially abusing Manchester United’s France star Patrice Evra.

He would later help Uruguay qualify for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, and also featured in this summer’s Copa America where he was used largely as a substitute by coach Marcelo Bielsa.

Suarez has already said Inter Miami will be his last club after joining the Major League Soccer side last year to reunite with former Barcelona team-mates Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2024