Marcelo Bielsa Uruguay Football Coach World Cup Spain Group Stage Exit

It was the second consecutive time that they had been dumped out of the first stage in the tournament and head coach Marcelo Bielsa was scathing in his self-assessment.

“I am responsible for this disappointment. Obviously, I don’t need to define this performance… If you ask me how my time (with the national team) will be remembered, it is a tenure that left nothing behind. What do I leave for Uruguayan soccer? Nothing, because any contribution that a coach might make to soccer in a country after three years of work never truly takes hold if results aren’t achieved. Fourth place in the qualifiers didn’t count for much, and a third-place finish in the Copa América didn’t, either. And there is obviously no need to spell it out after what happened now.” Biesla told reporters after the loss.

The 70-year-old coach had taken charge of the Uruguay team in 2023 post the departure of Diego Alonso. Under Bielsa, Uruguay reached the semi-finals of Copa America and went on to finish fourth in South America qualifiers for the World Cup. They beat reigning world champions Argentina and five-time World Cup winners Brazil along the way. The South American nation had started their World Cup campaign with a 1-1 draw against Saudi Arabia in their opening match before the team drew 2-2 against Cape Verde. Needing a win against Spain to qualify for the knockouts, the team fell behind due to an error by goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, hero of the team’s semi-final run in the 2010 World Cup.

It was the third such mistake that Muslera had made. The 40-year-old had come out of retirement earlier this year on Bielsa’s insistence. He ended up being substituted in the second half.

“Muslera decided to come off at half-time. My decision was very well thought out. I made all the evaluations that I thought were necessary. Now, of course, I can’t deny what happened and evaluate his performance. But he is a goalkeeper who was coming off a very good year and is a player with great personality and character,” said Bielsa.

In their run-up to the World Cup, Uruguay had suffered a 5-1 loss against USA last November before they drew with England in March. Post the loss against the USA, Biesla had talked about how he is too demanding and a ‘generator of tension’.

“I’m a generator of tension. When I arrive, the environment becomes tense. That’s why I appear infrequently. I’m toxic. To associate yourself with me makes you worse off. Do you understand me? There are toxic types who only see the errors that they are correcting, who are demanding, who are never satisfied with anything. He talks only about the work he is doing. When he goes out to eat, he reads the newspaper because he doesn’t want to integrate with those around him, so that he doesn’t have to talk about things that distract him from all that. Don’t think I enjoy it. For me, it’s karma,” the coach had told reporters.