Bielsa’s remarks at the end of the Uruguay game: self-critical, about the fights and darts at Colombian players

Colombia defeated Uruguay and earned a ticket to the final of the 2024 Copa América. The match was close for both sides, but even more so for the tricolor team, which played the second half with ten men. Marcelo Bielsa, coach of the Uruguayan national team, analyzed the defeat and was self-critical of his squad.

Bielsa was criticised by his country’s fans for the changes he made to his starting line-up and his tactical scheme. In addition, not being able to win a match that they faced with numerical superiority for the last 45 minutes.

“With one more man, the game became unnatural”

In the interview after the match, where he had to give an account of the approach and the disappointing defeat, the coach acknowledged that The team had shown its best performance in the first 45 minutes when the two selected were complete on the playing field.

For him, the Charrúas were more unbalanced in the first half and the expulsion could have also affected the success of the game.There were moments in the first half when we could have turned the game around and we didn’t.. In such hard-fought matches, the details count. Even though we didn’t dominate, it was an even match. We should have made a difference, minimal, but a difference,” he said.

“In the second half, with one more man (due to the expulsion of Daniel Muñoz), the game became unnatural because there were countless interruptions”added the Argentine who determined that the numerical superiority far from having benefited him became a problem for the game he had planned.

He also referred to the various opportunities that the Uruguayan attack missed, which could have reduced the score: “We tried all possible avenues with the team’s creative players and they participated. But Trying all the avenues does not exempt us from the responsibility of having been able to turn the tide in a match in which we were in a position to do so.“

The loss of Bentancur also worried ‘El Loco’, who took the opportunity to highlight an error in the Colombian approach: “Colombia’s two unbalanced players had no influence on the game. I have that impression. And yes, we suf
fered the loss of Bentancur because he linked the back of our team with the attack.”

Regarding the unfortunate fights in the stands, he said he did not see anything, but rejected the acts and classified them as regrettable. “I did not see everything that happened, I thought the incident had ended with a dispute that occurred in the middle of the field and when I saw that it had been resolved, I went to the locker room. I thought the players were in a corner of the field thanking their Uruguayan fans for their support.but later I learned that there were other types of unfortunate difficulties,” he said.