Tokyo: Uruguay's most-capped player Diego Forlan, so often his country's talisman, announced his retirement from international football on Thursday.

The 35-year-old striker played 112 games for Uruguay and scored 36 goals, representing the South Americans at three World Cups and helping them lift the Copa America in 2011. "This was an extremely difficult decision," Forlan told a news conference at his Japanese club Cerezo Osaka.