Colombia vs. Uruguay, a star-studded duel for a place in the Copa America final: Lorenzo and Bielsa, face to face

Marcelo Bielsa and Nestor Lorenzo They will look at each other this Wednesday, from each technical area, and they will recognize each other’s virtues, their differences and their ambitions. They will surely greet each other as Argentines, but both will be aware that they are on opposite shores, that one defends the interests of the fierce Uruguay, and the other, those of the exciting Colombia, and that only one will go to the final of the Copa América, this Sunday against Argentina.

Bielsa, at 68, is a football institution, prestigious, recognised as a coach who is obsessed with his training methods, visceral in his feeling for the game, to the point that one day he was nicknamed Loco and it stuck. Bielsa is a serious guy, who rarely smiles, methodical, rigorous and calculating, a lover of analysis and watching videos of his rivals. His press conferences are master classes in football, although he is prone to respond with irony and even anger when he doesn’t like a question.

Lorenzo vs. Bielsa

Lorenzo, at 58, is a different coach to Bielsa in terms of personality, he radiates a more friendly or simple demeanor. He is not usually seen angry, although yesterday he was annoyed when he was asked insistently about Colombia’s squad for today. But he is not one to make digs or make controversial statements. He is another passionate person, not at the level of Bielsa, but also very analytical of his team and its rivals.

Both are Argentinian, both were footballers and played as defenders. They have known each other for a long time, they looked at each other askance in their country. When Bielsa was Argentina’s coach and left the post before the 2006 World Cup, his replacement was Jose Pekermanwho already had Lorenzo as his assistant. Since then, Lorenzo, who has been working since when he was an assistant in the Argentine youth team (2000), was shaping his career as a coach, in the shadow of his mentor Pékerman, until his time came. With so much accumulated learning, he managed Melgar of Peru, made it a champion and then returned to Colombia to manage the team that he already knew, and that today has him dreaming of something big.

In any case, there is no doubt that Bielsa has much more experience, that he has managed a lot, although he has not won many. In reality, his exploits go back to the titles in Argentina with the clubs Newell’s and Vélez Sarsfield a
nd the promotion he achieved with Leeds in England. With the Argentine national team he won Olympic gold in Athens 2004 and the South American youth championship of the same year.

But Bielsa is a seasoned coach, who managed two World Cups: Korea and Japan 2002 with Argentina and South Africa 2010 with Chile, and who managed qualifiers, Copa América (he was runner-up in 2004 with Argentina). In May 2023 he came to manage the Uruguay national team. So his resume is much more extensive than Lorenzo’s, although the moment of both is special, both are in the semi-final, and Lorenzo has the label of 24 games unbeaten and having a solid Colombia, playing well and with great aspirations.

The two coaches have different pressures. Bielsa’s is to finally win the Copa America, to win something really big at the national team level, and to make the most of all his experience and all the credentials he has, and to do that he must first pass through this filter. Lorenzo’s pressure is to confirm the unbeaten record he has and the good play of Colombia, taking advantage of these footballers who are in great form, to go to the grand final. So today will be a duel of titans, between a Uruguay that is always brave and fights until the end, and a Colombia that has gained confidence and that really believes in the idea that it can reach the final.

PAUL ROMERO

EDITOR OF EL TIEMPO

@PabloRomeroET

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