South America is once again rolling out the red carpet for Marcelo Bielsa. Uruguay is his new home, and at the beginning of the South American World Cup, the heavenly team showed a dizzying pace, which is in the DNA of the Argentinian coach.
Chile, a team that pledged “Bielsismo” between 2007 and 2011, were the first victims of a resurgent Uruguay who signed off 3-1 on Friday with eye-catching goals backed by collective play.
“El Loco” showed his satisfaction with the performance and stated: “The model of the game is imposed by individuals, not by the coach.”
Bielsa praised the “style of the Uruguayan players”, who responded to the coach with ease by interpreting his tactical idea.
The midfielders had a special brilliance, generating high arrivals and daring to finish plays. That’s how the goals arrived, two by Nicolás de la Cruz from Argentina’s River Plate and another by Federico Valverde, the Real Madrid midfielder dubbed the great “cacique” of the new Uruguay.
“It was very important to start winning” in this “new era, in this new phase,” De la Cruz told AUFTV at the end of the bout.
Midfielder Rivera, the best player this evening at the Centenario stadium in Montevideo, pointed out that the coach aims to put together a “short and intense team”. “Today it happened in the attacks and hopefully we will feel better as the games and practices go on.”
Ovación, the sports supplement of local newspaper El País, pointed out that Celeste was “winning easily” and that at times “the Bielsa label” dominated the scene.
In Uruguay’s dream night, Darwin Núñez’s goal was missing. The English Liverpool striker was very close to signing but missed some shots and in others the Chilean goalkeeper, Brayan Cortés, excelled in clearing the danger from his own goal.
“I had several opportunities to score goals, but the goal was not opening,” summarized the forward, called the successor of Luis Suárez, the historical scorer of Uruguay.
The road to the World Cup for the Uruguayan team was marked by Bielsa’s decision to exclude two of the team’s historic scorers, “Pistolero” Luis Suárez and Edinson Cavani.
The media and fans here have long debated whether it was a good idea to drop the two references at the start of the road to the 2026 World Cup in Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Bielsa tried to defuse the controversy by claiming he chose not to contact them because both Suárez, who plays for Gremio de Porto Alegre, and Cavani, who recently arrived at Boca Juniors in Argentina, were “eligible”, even though he decided to leave them out. .. at least at the beginning of his journey with Uruguay.
For now, the victory extinguished the controversy, and after the game, the joy of the players on the field infected the fans who experienced a harsh elimination in the group stage in Qatar-2022.
“We are all happy. “It’s a team with a lot of young people and today it was shown that we have a lot to give”, concluded Núñez, who hopes to finally reach the goal against Ecuador on Tuesday and contribute to the consolidation of the “Bielsa factor”. (D)
South American qualifiers 2026
Source: Eluniverso
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
