Uruguay manager Marcelo Bielsa has given a 100-minute press conference as his final act with the national team.
Here are some of the highlights from the 70-year-old Argentine, who will leave the post after failing to reach the round-of-32 after two group draws and a loss.
“What I have absolute certainty of is that nobody cares what I know. I know when someone cares what I know,” Bielsa said.
Bielsa has been in charge of the national team since 2023. Manuel Velasquez
“Nothing I tried to transmit was important, at any level. That was never important from my point of view. I don’t see anything bad in it — other people aren’t interested in learning what I know. Case closed.
“My responsibility for what happened is very clear. I cannot justify the position we finished in. In short, my management of the players I had was insufficient. We did our best, both my colleagues and I, and the players, and it wasn’t enough. I am convinced that if I had chosen a different path, we wouldn’t have changed the results we obtained.”
“There’s not a serious, thoughtful, meditated and explained analysis which doesn’t see us winning against Saudi Arabia, which doesn’t see us winning against Cape Verde and which doesn’t see us drawing with Spain. We were sufficiently united as to run 20 per cent more than Saudi Arabia, 30 per cent more than Cape Verde and 25 per cent more than Spain.”
Fernando Muslera didn’t return for the second half against Spain. AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko
Bielsa also revealed goalkeeper Fernando Muslera was sick the day before the 1-0 loss to Spain – in which he asked to be replaced at halftime following a 42nd mistake.
“It’s never happened to me that a player asked to be replaced because of the effect of errors he committed on his spirit,” Bielsa said.
“Muslera told me he was so stricken by the error he committed that he preferred to stop playing because the group’s possibilities were intact and he wasn’t in the best condition to face up to that second half, when we had everything to achieve.”
