Marcelo Bielsa, who exited as head coach of the Uruguayan national team after the side bowed out of the World Cup in the group stage, gave a 100-minute press conference on Tuesday in which he maintained that his message never resonated with the team.
Uruguay opened play in Group H with a 1-1 draw against Saudi Arabia, then squandered a second-half lead in a 2-2 draw against Cape Verde. Needing a positive result against powerhouse Spain in the group finale to advance, Uruguay lost 1-0 on a goalkeeping error.
Speaking Tuesday in Montevideo of his tenure on the job, which began in May 2023, Bielsa said, “What I have absolute certainty of is that nobody cares what I know. I know when someone cares what I know. Nothing I tried to transmit was important, at any level. That was never important from my point of view. I don’t see anything bad in it — other people aren’t interested in learning what I know. Case closed.”
Bielsa added, “My responsibility for what happened is very clear. I cannot justify the position we finished in. In short, my management of the players I had was insufficient. We did our best, both my colleagues and I, and the players, and it wasn’t enough. I am convinced that if I had chosen a different path, we wouldn’t have changed the results we obtained.”
Despite his assessment of how his approach was received, Bielsa still believes his side deserved better results.
“There’s not a serious, thoughtful, meditated and explained analysis which doesn’t see us winning against Saudi Arabia, which doesn’t see us winning against Cape Verde and which doesn’t see us drawing with Spain,” he said, adding, “We were sufficiently united as to run 20% more than Saudi Arabia, 30% more than Cape Verde and 25% more than Spain.”
Bielsa also backed goalie Fernando Muslera, who asked to exit the Spain match at halftime after his 42nd-minute mistake led to a goal. The change was made, but Uruguay failed to rally.
According to Bielsa, Muslera was sick the day before the match.
“It’s never happened to me that a player asked to be replaced because of the effect of errors he committed on his spirit,” Bielsa said. “Muslera told me he was so stricken by the error he committed that he preferred to stop playing because the group’s possibilities were intact and he wasn’t in the best condition to face up to that second half, when we had everything to achieve.”
–Field Level Media
