Celeste del Loco’s debut: zoom on Marcelo Bielsa’s first year in Uruguay

Marcelo Bielsa This never goes unnoticed. Wherever you work, you set the tone. And in Chile, his every step is closely followed, thanks to the permanent memory of his work at the head of the national team. Today, Rosario’s coach is in Uruguay, building new history. And as a result, he has been at the helm of La Céleste for a year, on the eve of its cinema premiere. America’s Cup .

It will be this Sunday, against Panama, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami (9:00 p.m.). It’s the DT’s return to competition after 20 years. In 2004, he was Argentine vice-champion. He arrives as a candidate in the United States, even if the DT is measured. “It is difficult to anticipate and project results in such tight competition” he said during the press conference. The balance of El Loco’s work has a series of aspects, both on and off the field.

After the departure of Diego Alonso, after the World Cup in Qatar, the AUF bet big and started looking for Bielsa. It was a novelty because, in terms of football, Uruguay is very nationalist and for its team there was a predilection for the country’s technicians. Colleagues like Martín Lasarte criticized his appointment. On May 17, 2023, the official presentation took place. The press conference lasted more than an hour.

“They didn’t need to convince me. I would almost say the opposite,” was one of his first sentences, in a speech whose central question was whether or not he was going to consider Luis Suárez and Edinson Cavani. It was a country theme. El Pistolero was nominated for the Copa América, while El Matador resigned from the national team. Asked about the latter, the Argentinian replied: “It’s a personal decision, Cavani is an idol of Uruguayan football. These types of positions should not be analyzed, but should respect personal issues; You just have to analyze them and act.

Bielsa’s debut in charge of Celeste came on June 14 last year, beating Nicaragua, managed by Marco Antonio Figueroa, 4-1 in a friendly match played at the Centenario Stadium. Even if the challenge was not very demanding, he showed from the start the nuances of the game he advocates, such as offensive desire and verticality. As far as statistics are concerned, the coach’s performance was satisfactory. They have seven wins, three draws and two defeats in 12 matches (official and friendly, as a senior team), with a performance of 66.7%. The Celeste is doing well in qualifying. They occupy second place with 13 points (out of 18 possible), with the best attack of the tournament (13 goals).

The qualifiers gave Bielsa his best victories with the Uruguayan diver to date. First, they beat Brazil after 22 years. He then beat world champions Argentina at La Bombonera. In the new structure of the team, whose last attempt at the Copa América was a resounding 4-0 victory against Mexico, players like Sergio Rochet, Manuel Ugarte, Facundo Pellistri and Darwin Núñez stand out.

On the other hand, the mole was the Venezuelan pre-Olympics. There were expectations with the Uruguayan team because El Loco took over Sub 23 and because it had the guarantee of the world under-20 title, Uruguay failed on its road to Paris. They finished fourth in their group (even behind Chile), with only one victory in four appearances. In the face-to-face against La Roja, the team led by Nicolás Córdova won by the minimum.

The controversy is not unrelated to the evolution of Bielsa’s history in Uruguay. The coach’s forms and styles generated short circuits within the team, which resulted in the departure of the historic workers of La Céleste. The last one was that of Carlos Nicola, goalkeeping coach.

In August 2023, a shock was generated with the resignation of Claudio Pagani, the manager of the Celeste Complex (the equivalent of Juan Pinto Durán for La Roja), in office since 2011, due to differences in the style of work with the technical head. The following month, the person who left his position was the team’s chief doctor, Alberto Pan, after 17 years working for Celeste. He couldn’t meet Bielsa’s professional demands. He asked her to be available at the Complex every day. Pan was there throughout the Óscar Tabárez era.

Added to this is the departure of video analysts Andrés Paysee and Marcelo Mayor, who resigned alleging that the technical staff had absorbed their work. In January of this year, kinesiologist Richard López left. During his stay at the Pre-Olympics, he showed his annoyance by not attending the post-match press conference against Chile. According to official information, he was unhappy with certain aspects of the organization of the tournament. I do not talk anymore.

Whether they are annoyances, outbursts or “madness”, their actions always arouse a particular feeling. . This is what happened when it was learned that an amateur player (Walter Domínguez), one of the best football scorers in the interior of the country, would be called up to a local team that was playing on May 31 a friendly match against Costa Rica, during which the Argentinian did not even lead (it was Diego Pérez who was in charge against the Ticos). This is Marcelo Bielsa.