Controversial, but world-class, striker Luis Suarez has announced his retirement from international football, with the Uruguayan confirming his final game for the national team will be against Paraguay on Saturday 7 September (BST) during the World Cup qualifier.
Now 37, Suarez has had a stellar career for Uruguay. In total, the Inter Miami striker represented his national team 142 times, scoring 69 goals and assisting a further 39 times. He even managed to lift the 2011 Copa America title, scoring and assisting in the final during a 3-0 win over Paraguay.
Suarez announced his decision in an emotional press conference, highlighting how a lot of thought has gone into the choice to retire.
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“I’ve been thinking about this and analysing this. I believe this is the right time,” Suarez said. “I want to be relaxed when I play my last game with the national team. I’ll be just as excited to play as I was in 2007 when I played for my national team for the first time.
“That 19-year old kid is now a veteran player, an older player – however you want to call it – with an incredible history with the national team, that will give his life for the team.”
Of course, Suarez’s time with Uruguay hasn’t all been rosy.
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For the third time in his career, Suarez bit Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil as the Italian defender blocked his run into the box during a 1-0 win for Suarez’s Uruguay. He subsquently received a four-month ban from football by FIFA.
Suarez’s bite on Chiellini (Image credit: Getty Images)
He also received a red card against Ghana in the 2010 World Cup quarter-finals after handling the ball on the line in the last minute of the game. While stood in the tunnel on the side of the pitch, Suarez then proceeded to run around in celebration as Asamoah Gyan missed the penalty that could have sent Ghana into the semis. Uruguay then managed to hold on in extra-time with a man less, before winning the shootout.
Suarez’s other red card came on his debut, in a 2007 friendly against Colombia. The referee awarded him his second yellow card for dissent.
“We did go through difficult moments. There were many,” Suarez added. “Personally, it was worse for me after my massive mistake in 2014. But there’s nothing that I would reproach.”
Suarez’s handball against Ghana (Image credit: Getty Images)
