By Jennifer Amarachi
Uruguayan football legend, Luis Suarez has declared his retirement from international football.
He will hang up his boots after Uruguay’s 2026 World Cup qualifying match against Paraguay on Friday in Montevideo.
“My final game for my nation will be on Friday”.
At a news conference, an emotional Suarez, 37, stated, “It was not an easy decision to make, but I do it with the peace of mind that I will give my maximum until the very last game of my (Uruguay) career.”
With 69 goals from 142 appearances, the former striker for Barcelona and Liverpool is retiring from international football as the highest scorer for Uruguay. He is largely considered as one of the greatest players of his period.
Suarez made his Uruguayan debut in 2007. He was notoriously sent out from the 2014 World Cup after receiving a four-month ban for biting Giorgio Chiellini of Italy.
In the end, the Inter Miami forward represented South America in nine international tournaments after helping Uruguay win the 2011 Copa America, when he was voted Player of the Tournament.
On Monday, Suarez declared that leading Uruguay to victory in the Copa America was the pinnacle of his professional life.
@The Copa America title is something I wouldn’t give for anything. It was my career’s pinnacle moment. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Dynamic and skilled, with a deadly eye for goal, Suarez was never far from controversy as an attacker.
He was one of the villains of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, as well, after his callous handball on the goal-line denied Ghana a late winner in the quarterfinals. This incident occurred in addition to the biting incident that ended his participation in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
After Ghana missed the subsequent opportunity after Suarez was sent off for that offense, Uruguay managed to advance to the semi-finals via a penalty shoot-out. Throughout his time at Manchester United, Suarez was plagued by controversy as well.
Most famously, in 2011, English officials banned him from eight games for reportedly assaulting Patrice Evra, a French star, on the basis of race.
Suarez later assisted Uruguay qualify for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, as well as play in this summer’s Copa America, when coach Marcelo Bielsa used him primarily as a substitute. He scored his 69th international goal in a third-place playoff win over Canada.
