Luis Suarez could not hold back the tears as he announced to the world that his incident-packed international career was coming to an end after 17 years.
In front of an adoring crown at Estadio Centenario in Montevideo on Friday, Suarez will play for his beloved country for a 143rd and final time in a 2026 World Cup qualifier against Paraguay.
All going well, Uruguay's all-time leading scorer will also add to his 69 goals and bring a fitting end to a career that has seen him hit the highs of winning the Copa America but also the lows of being banned for biting an opponent at a World Cup.
Suarez – who now plies his club trade at Major League Soccer side Inter Miami alongside former Barcelona teammates Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba – played in four World Cups and five Copa Americas.
“It's hard for me to say it, but Friday will be my last match with my country’s national team,” said a tearful Suarez at a press conference on Monday.
“I am retiring because I want to step aside. I am 37 years old, there are a lot of talented players, and I know it would be difficult to get to the next World Cup.
“It is comforting to know I can retire on my terms and not have to retire due to injuries, or to not being called up. I want to say goodbye here, with my people. This is the ideal moment.”
Suarez's Uruguay debut would set the tone for future controversies while wearing his country's colours. During a 3-1 friendly win over Colombia in 2007, he was sent off late in the game for dissent after being handed his first cap by legendary Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez.
But four years later came Suarez's crowning glory as he spearheaded Uruguay to Copa America glory, scoring both goals in the 2-0 semi-final victory against Peru. He also scored in the final, a 3-0 win over Paraguay.
His performances in Argentina saw him named player of the tournament after finishing as second-top scorer with four goals – behind only Peru's Paolo Guerrero and ahead of Argentina's Sergio Aguero (three), Neymar and Radamel Falcao (two for Brazil and Colombia, respectively).
“I wouldn't trade the Copa America title for anything,” he said. “It was the best moment of my career.”
At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Suarez – who scored three times at the tournament, including two in the last-16 win over South Korea – was sent-off in the quarter-final clash with Ghana.
Late in extra-time, he cynically blocked Dominic Adiyiah's goal-bound header with his hands which would have made the Black Stars the first African team to reach a World Cup semi-final. Asamoah Gyan then missed the subsequent spot-kick with Uruguay going on to win the shoot-out but lose in the next round to the Netherlands.
“I don't apologise for it,” he insisted before the two teams clashed again at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar – which Uruguay won 2-0. “I apologise if I injure a player but I took a red card for the handball. It wasn't my fault because I didn't miss the penalty.”
But it would be the 2014 World Cup in Brazil that would witness Suarez at his most infamous despite a qualification campaign that saw him finish as top scorer with 11 goals, one ahead of future Barca teammate Messi.
With nine minutes remaining in the group-stage clash with Italy, Suarez bit Italy's Giorgio Chiellini which was missed by referee Marco Rodriquez despite the defender's protests as he pointed out visible teeth marks on his shoulder. The incident would see Suarez handed a nine-game ban by Fifa – the longest suspension in World Cup history.
Remarkably, this was the third time Suarez had been banned for similar incidents after receiving heavy punishments during his club career for biting PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal, while playing for Ajax in 2010, and Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic's in 2013 while at Liverpool.
“My fear has always been that my lasting image for my children and all Uruguayan fans would be of 2014. I have got past that. And I hope the people have also forgotten and they are left with all the great moments I lived in our stadium, with all the things our team accomplished, in Copa Americas, in World Cups.”
Suarez featured in this summer's Copa America but was largely used as a substitute by coach Marcelo Bielsa, although it was his injury-time finish against Canada – and penalty in the resulting shoot-out – that would help secure Uruguay third place.
“My dream was for my children to see me win something important with the national team … that last goal … even though it wasn’t a trophy to take home, it was very nice for them,” he added.
“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.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
Jumanji: The Next Level
Director: Jake Kasdan
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Jack Black, Nick Jonas
Two out of five stars
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MORE ON THE US DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
The Freedom Artist
By Ben Okri (Head of Zeus)
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MATCH INFO
AC Milan v Inter, Sunday, 6pm (UAE), match live on BeIN Sports
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Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
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Movie: Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster 3
Producer: JAR Films
Director: Tigmanshu Dhulia
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Jimmy Sheirgill, Mahie Gill, Chitrangda Singh, Kabir Bedi
Rating: 3 star
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950