Why Marcelo Bielsa thinks 'nobody cares' after 'very painful' farewell as Uruguay boss following 2026 World Cup exit
Published 01/07/2026 at 04:21 GMT+1
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Marcelo Bielsa has said that ”nobody cared” what he knew during his time in charge of Uruguay at the 2026 World Cup and that the team should have finished with seven points instead of two.
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Uruguay failed to make it out of the group stage of the World Cup as they drew with Saudi Arabia and Cabo Verde, and lost to Spain.
Bielsa is stepping down from his role following the tournament and has bowed out with a marathon press conference lasting over 90 minutes, during which he took responsibility for the disappointing campaign, but also appeared to fire parting shots.
”What I have absolute certainty of is that nobody cares what I know,” Bielsa said, via The Athletic.
”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.”
Bielsa, who has been in charge of Uruguay since 2023 following his time at Leeds United, said it was a ”very painful” farewell.
He also added about the World Cup campaign: ”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.”
Bielsa went viral at the tournament after refusing to engage in an official photoshoot, shaking his head and looking stony-faced.
He made reference to the photoshoot in his press conference as well as his angry reaction towards a journalist following Uruguay’s defeat to Spain in their final group game.
”I wanted to make reference to something - an apology, in inverted commas,” he said in his press conference.
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Marcelo Bielsa.
Image credit: Getty Images
”When they took my photo for FIFA, 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 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.”
Bielsa took Uruguay to the semi-finals of the 2024 Copa America and guided them to fourth in South American qualifying, finishing level on points with Brazil.
But he apologised following the disappointing World Cup showing, saying: ”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.
"I feel we've disappointed the fans, which is a huge frustration. It was completely unexpected that our final position would be what it was, difficult to imagine.
"It's a fall that no one can admit or tolerate, especially the fans, who are the recipients of what we do...This ending is very painful because of the hopes I had when I took on this project, because of how badly it ended."
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