Bielsa: “I have the same strength from day one to continue in the Uruguayan National Team until the World Cup”
The coach of the Uruguayan National Team, Marcelo Bielsa, gave a press conference this Thursday afternoon from the Centenario Stadium and assured that he did not question his permanence in office.
The coach expressed that he felt strong enough to continue in the position until the 2026 World Cup, leaving behind rumors that spoke of a possible resignation from the position.
We review the best phrases left by Bielsa’s extensive conference.
Talking about whether the possibility of stepping aside was raised during these hours. “No, the same strength from day one to continue in the National Team until the World Cup. If at any time I considered that I should not continue, it was not at this moment”.
“Each time I took responsibility for the things that happened to the team. I read a message from Egídio Arévalo Ríos who said that the coaching staff take responsibility. I have never taken responsibility. They cannot point out or indicate a moment in which I have not assumed responsibility for the team’s bad moments. Nor have I ever said anything that linked the team’s good moments with me.”
“I contact the players and I assume that if they want me to leave, it’s very simple, they come and tell me: look Bielsa, we want him to leave. That’s why I can’t be guided by anything transcended but by the day to day, what I receive, how I live together and by the type of relationship that is established.”
Asked if he feels questioned by the AUF. “I spoke for many hours with President Ignacio Alonso and Jorge Giordano. The conclusion of the conversation is that the project continues exactly as it is until the World Cup“.
Talking about whether there will be new faces in the National Team. “New faces, I don’t think so. There may be significant absences, but recovering certain presences are not new faces, they are players who are not present due to injury. If you tell me, do you see any figure who deserves a leading place and with the capacity to solve the team’s problems outside of those I usually mention? No, I don’t see that.”
“I am a shy, obsessive, mechanized person, I don’t like disorder, I feel uncomfortable in that scenario, those are my deficits. It is difficult for me to act loose, uninhibited, friendly, it is not my way of being, but within that way of being I was always rated positively by the people I lived with because it is seen that there are other values that can generate acceptance. Obviously, humanly I have not achieved acceptance from this group that I lead.. When you go to a place, the rules are not the ones you have, they are those of the place that receives you, without ceasing to be yourself.”
“One of the things that Ignacio Alonso told me is that the climate of coexistence within a Uruguayan National Team has an enhancing effect on the players’ virtues. It is difficult to express but let’s say that a player has a base of virtues of value 6. If he is happy, a 7 is added and if he is unmotivated, a 5 is added. I firmly believe that emotion is the effect that most allows the growth of virtue. There is a song linked to Uruguayan football that It drove me crazy, one of the best soccer songs I’ve ever heard. From Canario Luna, which talks about the player when he’s in the truck… You have to be tough not to get excited about that penalty if you love soccer. In my technical talk before a defining game for us, I played it to the players and I told them, listen to what he says because that’s so empowering. When we were kids we loved soccer like crazy, a little badge and a blank wall were a ball and a goal. a garage and a tomato or a zucchini. That is the past of all of us who love football and when one refers to that walk he is a much better professional football player, fueled by amateurism. The players know that they need to return to that player to be better professional players, and they find the best scenario in the National Team, they don’t care if they win money, they come because they come looking for that.
“There is an external view that says that the players are overextended, tired and get injured. Pay attention to Facundo Pellistri, who spent 50 days without competing, before coming he played five minutes in his club as a sign that he is healthy, we incorporated him and took him progressively to reproduce what he has to do in a match and we evaluated his feelings. When we saw that he was not up to high competition, we sent him back to the club.”
About not using all the players in the calls or returning them earlier. “If you have two games, you are going to play one game with one team and the other with another, then you have to try to think that you can reduce the number of players in the ten days of preparation. That’s why instead of taking 22 I add five. I add players like Santiago Homenchenko, who have not been substantial but who participate, are known, that type of data. When the whole week has passed, on Tuesday we are going to the United States, I have the 22 who are going, and those who were substitutes in the first one are not going to do it in the second one. What do I do? I make them go to the United States, I tell them that they are not going to be there or I tell them this was your period, we value it, in this one I am not going to need you, I call you out. Because training, getting to know your teammates, there is a whole ritual with a new player… It seems to me that that is starting to sow the future.
“I always say one word: I am toxic, relating to me makes those who relate to me worse.. There are toxic types, who only see the error, who are constantly correcting, who demand, who are not satisfied with anything, who like to talk only about work, who keep a diary when eating so as not to integrate with the rest so that they do not alienate them. I experience it as karma, but that behavior is based on fear. “One does not enjoy winning, one fears losing much more than one enjoys winning.”.
Consulted by Lucas Torreira’s open letter. “It is not an invitation to summon him. For Torreira I did the most I do in all cases, I never stopped watching his games. One day he called me and told me why he didn’t call me. I explained to him and told him: you have the right to be summoned to closely verify what your resources are. If you see the productivity he has at Galatasaray, he is a very important player. He was with us, I lived with him, I tried to be as friendly as possible and share my football idea with him and then I didn’t call him up again. He plays in a position where Valverde and Bentancur play in Uruguay. Torreira plays in the European elite in a great team and at 29 years old, I have to be respectful of that and call him up if I think he has a chance of filling a place that I think is covered. Maybe it’s much better than those two but I chose others. Obviously, Torreira does not agree with my choice and, in an elliptical way, he lets me know, it is clear what he says. I understand it perfectly but I acted with him in the best possible way. I respect him as a player, his football present, I trained him closely which is an essential episode to finish getting to know a player, and on top of that I don’t touch him, that is, I don’t mention him knowing that I am going to choose another.”
“I came embarrassed with a 5-1 and because a guy said that it breaks my eyes and is a disaster. If the team has generated that, I will stand up. Besides, we lost with our starters against the substitutes from the United States, which seriously aggravates the issue. We lost with cards. I cannot accept that it is said that it was a team that let go of the coach’s hand because reluctance, indifference, disobedience, not responding to the game proposal, that’s how the players let go of your hand. Anyone who has played soccer knows that these are the traits: I don’t run, I’m lazy, I don’t do what I’m told, I don’t react, I get angry, I have a bad mood. I didn’t see that against the United States. That doesn’t mean that we played well or that the performance was defensible. Do you know how much it hurts me to go to the supermarket and have them see my face? Because I like to live, not stay at home embarrassed by a 5-1 defeat.”.
“One thing that strengthens us Argentinians is tension. If there is none, it provokes it and if there is, they say how lucky, I can move here. The Uruguayan considers tension as an offensive excess. The Basques say: the truth, unless it generates the common good, is a lack of respect and they are the toughest in the world. I am a great generator of tension so I don’t fit well, that’s why I isolate myself and go only when necessary because I know that when I arrive, I get tense.”
On whether Agustín Canobbio is still in the pipeline to be called up. “I never stopped considering him. What happened happened, he said what he said and I continued watching his performances every weekend. There are players who have made mistakes from which I believe there is no return, Canobbio is not one of those players. He said what he felt and I have no reason to condemn him for that.. In fact, I always kept watching him.”
Regarding what changes can be seen from now on. “I don’t have a single exclusive formula that I’m going to apply and I can comment on it. I’m sure I’m going to see things, I’m going to try changes, I’m going to see if I can convince myself and build – because there is a question of capacity, not everyone builds things that don’t exist like Guardiola -. I don’t have that capacity but I am persevering and I will search, I will look, I will build options that are going to be new, I don’t know if they are going to be positive, but yes I never give up“.
