Jun 23, 2024, 11:59 PM ET
Against Panama and for the Copa América, Giorgian De Arrascaeta experienced his first game as a starter under Marcelo Bielsa in the Uruguayan National Team. The Argentine coach explained in a press conference why he opted for De Arrascaeta to play from the beginning over Nicolás de la Cruz.
This was the Flamengo player’s fifth game with Loco Bielsa as coach. His first two matches in this new cycle of the Celeste were in the Qualifiers in 2023: against Colombia he had entered in the 61st minute for Nahitan Nández, and against Bolivia he entered in the 73rd minute for Nico de la Cruz.
Already in 2024, De Arrascaeta had played the last 25 minutes in the friendly against the Basque National Team, and played the entire complement of the clash against Ivory Coast.
The scorer of Uruguay’s only two goals in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar had a lot of mobility in the first half, accompanying Darwin Núñez as a midfielder.
“It seemed to me that it was a game that could accommodate his characteristics of being an offensive midfielder linked to the last pass and the completion of the plays, different from Nicolás de la Cruz who is more about progressing through the succession of passes and the dynamic”, explained Bielsa after the game.
De Arrascaeta was very active from the start of the match, recovering a ball in the first seconds of the game and very close to connecting with the ball again after a cross from Pellistri. Even that first attack by La Celeste ended with a deflected shot from number 10.
In turn, the footballer trained at Defensor Sporting was in charge of most of the corner kicks (in the 39th minute there was an exception, Federico Valverde taking a corner).
In the pressure of Panama’s departure, De Arrascaeta and Darwin Núñez went on the rival defenders (Giorgian generally went on the right center back) in the 4-4-2 that Uruguay showed when they did not have the ball.
At minute 19 and after a cross from Nández, De Arrascaeta was close to converting the partial 2 to 0 with a header, but his shot was met with a great intervention by goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera.
When Uruguay had the ball, Giorgian tried to connect with his teammates after dropping back from the center of the attack; He was often seen leaning on the rival libero, and then taking off and being a passing option through the central lanes. Likewise, at times the one who retreated the most was Núñez.
If La Celeste was not forceful to put the game to bed in the first half (considering the large number of goal situations it generated), it is largely due to the lack of finesse that its players had in finishing the attacks, De Arrascaeta being one of the footballers who lacked precision.
At minute 60, De Arrascaeta was substituted and De la Cruz entered his placehis partner in Flamengo.
