Marcelo Bielsa signs off from Uruguay with marathon press conference: ‘Nobody was interested’

Marcelo Bielsa has said that “nothing” of what he tried to transmit during his time as Uruguay coach was “important, at any level” after his side’s group-stage exit from the World Cup.

In a press conference lasting one hour and 40 minutes, which Bielsa arrived at with a dossier of documents, the Argentinian said his team deserved seven points from their three group games, had run 30 percent more than Cape Verde and defended goalkeeper Fernando Muslera after his error for Spain’s goal and the half-time substitution he requested.

The 70-year-old also said he was “no good at posing for photos”, referring to his unusual pre-World Cup shoot, and seemed to blame the pitchside reporter for his outburst during an interview that followed Uruguay’s loss to Spain.

Bielsa, who has been in charge of the national team since 2023, previously said he and his coaching staff’s work would culminate at this World Cup and on Tuesday described it as a “very painful” farewell.

“What I have absolute certainty of is that nobody cares what I know,” he said. “I know when someone cares what I know. 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.

“Nobody was interested in what I transmitted, I don’t have the smallest doubt of that. I’ve experienced it in the same way that an engineer who lived in Australia and wanted to be a manager in Montevideo came over. I said ‘OK, come over’, I told him what I know and he accepted it and is now working in Uruguayan football. He’s the only one who I remember being interested.”

Uruguay exited the 2026 World Cup in the group stage. (Florencia Tan Jun / Getty Images)

On the two points Uruguay managed in Group H alongside Saudi Arabia, World Cup debutants Cape Verde and Spain, Bielsa said: “I can perfectly explain why we should have finished the group with seven points.

“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.”

Addressing suggestions of a lack of unity behind the scenes, he added: “We were sufficiently united as to run 20 percent more than Saudi Arabia, 30 percent more than Cape Verde and 25 percent more than Spain.”

Bielsa explained that Muslera had suffered a 38C (100F) fever the day before the Spain game but had recovered to play, before asking to be replaced at half-time because of his error for Alex Baena’s goal.

“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.”

Bielsa finished his press conference by saying: “I wanted to make reference to something — an apology, in inverted commas. When they took my photo for FIFA (where his head was bowed), I’m no good at posing for photos.

“And the second thing I wanted to refer to was after the game against Spain, when there’s obligations with the companies who buy the rights to give a certain quantity of interviews. They manage times of anguish as if they were times of happiness.

“I reacted against the delay in the questions which I was obliged to answer (yelling ‘get on with it!’) and I reacted because they waited, waited and I was overcome with pain. That’s why I perhaps wasn’t as polite as I should have been.”