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“The tsunami is ongoing and the consequences have not yet been written.” The Uruguayan press chooses the most virulent climatic phenomenon to reflect the state of the Uruguayan national team, after the statements of Luis Suarez, endorsed by some of his former colleagues, against Marcelo Bielsa and his way of relating to the staff and employees of the Casa Celeste property. Some very questioned ways, that the forward Agustín Canobbio, to add more fuel to the fire, He even classified this Tuesday as a “lack of respect.” José María Giménez He was the most conciliatory: “Always supporting the coach 100 percent. “I see an opportunity for a solution.”
The story is open, the conflict continued to add voices in the last hours and the outcome is uncertain. Uruguay, third in the playoffs, will face next Friday in Lima Peru, but the good sporting situation, with the comfortable qualification for the World Cup that it is achieving at this moment, takes a backseat. Can Bielsa continue leading a group that publicly exposes him as an insensitive leader with authoritarian traits?
Suárez and other players who echoed his words, such as Federico Valverde, Nahitan Nández, Sergio Rochet and Canobbio, proposed a dismissal scenario, if it were not because they left the open door to a meeting to bring positions closer together. They were one step away from demanding “him or us.” Suárez tightened the rope further by revealing that more than one player thought about resigning after the Copa América. The meeting between Bielsa and the footballers – without Suárez, who said goodbye to the team when the coach did not assure him that he would continue calling him until the end of the year – took place after the concentration that began this Tuesday in Montevideo.
The position that Bielsa will take is unknown. He always entrusted his projects to the support of those he directed. He considers identification with his football proposal to be essential, although in this case the short circuit arose from the side of coexistence. If they do not want him to leave, it is evident that the footballers want a change. It will be necessary to see if Bielsa admits that the claim is legitimate and, in that case, review his daily treatment.
There was no statement from the Uruguayan Football Association. At the time, at THE NATION They conveyed to him from the AUF their complete agreement regarding football: “The work being done is very good. Bielsa is faithful to his style, which is what we expected when he was hired. The selection shows a dynamic, modern game. Even in the match that was lost against Ecuador (qualifiers), at times there was very good football. We have no doubt that with work and planning, Uruguay will be able to display a level that positions it at the top of world football.”
A leader who followed Bielsa’s hiring and the evolution of events from the beginning told him recognized this newspaper the controversy, while remaining optimistic: “I believe that Bielsa has his personality and everyone knew that. All the technicians have their things, perhaps Bielsa is more special in his personal treatment with everyone, it makes no difference. I think your way of being collided with some player’s ego and that is why these problems occur. I understand that they are going to be easily fixed internally.”
Uruguayan public opinion is divided. Some support Bielsa and others the insurgent players. What is unanimous is the surprise at the expressions that Suárez made once he retired from the national team. Some words that contrast with those he had said about the Rosario in December 2023: “With Bielsa there is mutual respect. From him to the player and from mine to the coach. You realize that the teammates who were with him are learning many things and are enjoying a nice time in the national team.” Nine months later, the Pistolero surprised: “(Bielsa) He has separated the entire group… it breaks my heart that people live like this in the Complex today.” Distanced from Bielsa, in recent months A doctor, two kinesiologists, the goalkeeper coach (Carlos Nicola) and administration staff were dismissed. of the concentration site.
Temporarily, in the middle of the two demonstrations of the companion of Lionel Messi at Inter Miami, Bielsa defended his players almost to the point of immolation after the serious incidents in the Copa América, when several players clashed in the audience with Colombian supporters. In statements that went around the world and showed him in a state of strong exaltation, Bielsa not only said that the players should not be suspended, but that the Conmebol and the organization should apologize. He justified that they had reacted to defend relatives who were being attacked in the stands. In the entire carousel of expressions in recent days, not a single Uruguayan footballer thanked Bielsa for standing up for them.
Those close to the Celeste notice a background of discomfort among the former leaders with the generational change that Bielsa carried out in the events, since he never said that he would do without Edinson Cavani, Suárez, Diego Godín and Matías Vecino, all withdrawn as they realized they would not be taken into account.
Bielsa embodies a management style opposed to the paternalism of Oscar Washington Tabarez, leading the Uruguayan team for more than 15 years, a period long enough to get used to the comfort of a method. Successful at the time (he won the 2011 Copa América in Argentina, fourth place in South Africa 2010), the Maestro had to be dismissed in the previous qualifying rounds due to a series of consecutive defeats that put qualification for the 2022 World Cup at risk. Diego Alonso He went up the hill and took the Uruguayan team to Qatar, but he also fell into driving mode player -demands as necessary, complicity in the relationship, concessions to historical figures- and the elimination in the first round ejected him from office.
“Mire, equal but different, I read once about Argentina and Uruguay. Of course, the rejection of what is not one’s own is legitimate, it is a feeling that consolidates the identification of what is one’s own and for me it is legitimate, especially in a country like Uruguay, which is football-oriented and has prestigious players and coaches in every sense. ”Bielsa expressed, in a prescient manner, on the day of his presentation as coach of La Celeste, in May 2023.
More than 20 years ago, Daniel Passarella He lasted only 16 games in Uruguay. Bielsa goes for 17.
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