Criticism in Uruguay adds to coach’s list of controversies
The Celeste coach’s career is marked by unusual stories, which earned him a nickname. The Argentine has already threatened fans with a grenade and has an unconventional work method
Despite the good performance in the qualifiers, Uruguay is not enjoying a moment of peace off the field. The team entered a crisis due to the harsh criticism of coach Marcelo Bielsa by players. After his retirement, Luis Suárez spoke about several situations he had with the coach . And Canobbio also said that he no longer has a relationship with Bielsa . The complicated situation of the coach in Celeste adds to the list of controversies that earned the Argentine the nickname “El loco”.
The nickname did not come specifically from his bold tactics or his restless behavior on the sidelines. Marcelo Bielsa received the nickname after threatening fans of Argentina’s Newell’s Old Boys with a grenade . In 1992, they went to the coach’s house to collect a penalty after a 6-0 defeat of San Lorenzo in the Copa Libertadores. Despite the incident, Newell’s reached the final of the competition that year, but ended up losing to São Paulo on penalties
From then on, other attitudes reinforced the nickname, which began to accompany the coach in all his work. One of the situations that gained fame was the less than friendly relationship with stars of the Argentine national team in the 2002 World Cup. At the time, the coach did not call up Fernando Redondo because he “didn’t like him” and conducted a survey on the players’ preferred tactical scheme, adopting precisely the opposite option to their decision.
See below other “crazy things” from Marcelo Bielsa:
Intentional error
Marcelo Bielsa has always studied his games in depth. In the early 1990s, when he was coaching Newell’s Old Boys, he noticed that the opposing team was not used to scoring throw-ins and had difficulty in these situations. So, the coach asked goalkeeper Norberto Scoponi, at the time, to always take goal kicks wide. This way, Newell’s team would be able to regain possession of the ball. The goalkeeper was booed a lot by the fans present at the stadium, but the errors in the kicks were intentional.
Questionnaire for athletes
Marcelo Bielsa’s time at European clubs has attracted attention. At Lazio in Italy, the coach resigned 48 hours after his presentation. The coach then went to Lille in France. There, he gave out a questionnaire to get to know the players better, with questions about global poverty and their favorite movies. He also insisted on having a small room at the French team’s training center.
Garbage collection training
The work at Leeds, in England, also had an episode that became known for Marcelo Bielsa’s randomness. The coach asked the club’s directors how long on average a fan had to work to buy a ticket. When the answer was three hours, the coach did a different activity with the squad. The players had to collect the trash and clean the training center during that specific period. This way, they would have an idea of the fans’ efforts.
Approached by the police at the gathering
During preparations for the World Cup in South Korea and Japan, Marcelo Bielsa used to walk in the woods near the training camp due to insomnia. The coach always wore headphones during the walk. The police found his movements at an unusual time strange and approached the coach at gunpoint. Bielsa then had to explain that he was the coach’s coach.
Amateur player called up
Marcelo Bielsa’s most recent story. The coach called up an amateur player, Walter Domínguez, who had never played a professional match, to the Uruguayan national team. The striker caught the coach’s attention during an amateur tournament and ended up playing in a friendly match for Uruguay against Costa Rica.
