Bielsa stays in charge of Uruguay, says AUF president | OneFootball

The Argentine Marcelo Bielsa will continue to lead the Uruguayan national football team, and the Celeste will arrive strengthened at the 2026 World Cup after the crisis triggered by the 5-1 defeat in a friendly against the United States, said the president of the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF), Ignacio Alonso, on Wednesday.

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The board held a long meeting with the coach and confirmed the support that Bielsa had mentioned last Thursday, when he assured that he had backing and continued “with the same strength from the first day to remain with the national team until the World Cup.”

Alonso stated that he had a good meeting with the coach and that a “path is being charted to arrive well at the World Cup.” “The coach continues with us,” he assured.

“What we all agree on is that the national team needs to rise towards the World Cup (…) that is the most important thing. There are no resignations,” he declared to the local press after leaving the meeting.

Last Thursday, two days after suffering a surprising thrashing in Tampa against a United States team full of reserves, Bielsa arrived in Montevideo and held an extensive press conference in which he again took all the blame for the humiliating defeat.

Additionally, the Rosario native admitted that he was questioned by players about some of his actions.

“I am a shy person, an obsessive person, a mechanized person, I don’t like disorder, I feel uncomfortable in this scenario (…) evidently, humanly I have not yet achieved acceptance from this group I lead,” he stated.

Uruguay will meet again in March to play preparatory friendlies towards the World Cup, which will be held in the middle of next year in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.