Uruguay bet on a radical change with the arrival of Marcelo Bielsa to the National Team, after more than 15 years under the command of the ‘Master’ Oscar Washington Tabárez and a short step from Diego Alonso. They are not just names: the Argentine is also performing surgery on the game of the Colombian National Team’s next rival in the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup in North America.
Bielsa is experiencing his fourth qualifying experience. The first, with Argentina, was brilliant, heading towards a 2002 World Cup that ended in disappointment, not passing the first phase.
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His story
The second, also with the Albiceleste, was cut short: the coach resigned in 2004, after winning the Olympic gold, and José Pékerman came to replace him. And the third, with Chile, was the genesis of a brilliant generation that reached two World Cups (one with him on the bench) and then won two Copa América as a tailspin, before beginning to fade away. Almost 15 years later, Chileans continue to live off that base.
Now, Bielsa has to find a replacement for the generation of Muslera, Godín, Cáceres, Coates and other celestial heroes, in which two names shone: Édinson Cavani and Luis Suárez. Both are still active, one in Boca Juniors and the other in Gremio. And many still ask for them.
The Argentine, from the outset, took them out of his first call-up, in which there was only one player over 30 years old, goalkeeper Sergio Rochet. And that generated controversy. Suárez himself published a photo on his social networks showing his number 9 with the legend “Respect” and an emoji sticking out his tongue.
Cavani, for his part, is not the same as before and, in fact, he was in a drought with Boca, with whom he had only scored one goal, against Platense. But he made a key one this week, in the Libertadores semifinal against Palmeiras. “When you work and work, the moments come,” she declared.
Bielsa is clear that he must look to the future, with players from a different present. “When I spoke on the first occasion I said that I would talk to them, that I would listen to them, and based on what they told me I was going to give them my opinion. I didn’t know what position they could convey to me in a talk I wanted to have with them. From the moment I started working, Cavani publicly expressed that his time in the National Team was not over, as was Suárez. Because of these two pieces of information, I did not need to talk to them, because I read and listened to them, they made any conversation, from my point of view, unnecessary because they became callable players. The conversation with them was not necessary,” Bielsa said in his first qualifying press conference.
different game
Uruguay was always a brave team, in its own way. The fight is in their blood. The ‘garra charrúa’ was a reality for many years and even, in his house, the stadium Montevideo Centennialthere is a museum where stories from all eras are told.
“The objective is going to be the same, we are going to try to star, to attack.”
Bielsa is betting on another school, although the change has been gradual. The Argentine wants to give importance to the treatment of the ball, to a school that has earned him many praises, more for the game than for the titles.
“The objective is going to be the same, we are going to try to play a leading role, to attack, to play in the rival field, to not speculate and to ensure that we can do the deficit that we have to resolve,” he said on Friday.
So far, the balance is one of victory against Chili, with a great display of superiority, and a defeat against Ecuador, with a peculiarity: the two goals came through a way in which Uruguayan football is traditionally strong, the aerial game. And, furthermore, with the aggravating factor that the offensive game that the Argentine promotes was not seen much, although critics in Uruguay attributed it to the factor of the 2,800 meters of altitude of Quito.
The Uruguayan renewal has important assets. A, Federico Valverde, a round-trip man, a pillar of Real Madrid. And the other, Darwin Núñez, partner of Luis Diaz in Liverpool. But there are others less known, a bath of youth, like Manuel Ugarte, PSG starter at only 22 years old. And Bielsa knows that, to get there, they have to show ‘European’ characteristics that he wants to take advantage of.
“There are many players from Uruguay who play in big teams. Nobody plays at Real Madrid if they lose the ball, nobody plays at Paris Saint-Germain if they lose the ball frequently, the same at Liverpool. No one becomes champion of Italy and I could make an example of each of the players, so it is not difficult to harmonize and get them to interact,” declared the coach.
Uruguay has not missed a World Cup since 2006: in that tie they lost the playoff against Australia. And it already has a place for 2030, on behalf of Fifa. So this tie will be about building the team of the present and the future. That’s what Bielsa came to.
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