Following Uruguay's elimination from the 2026 FIFA World Cup group stage, Bielsa held a press conference this Tuesday to announce his resignation as head coach of the Uruguayan national team.

Bielsa had already faced significant criticism before the final outcome was known, and he is now taking responsibility for it. The 70-year-old Argentine coach stated at a summary press conference on Tuesday that he is no longer the Uruguay coach.

Bielsa said, "My responsibility is very clear, and I cannot defend our final result." However, he did not entirely backtrack: "In short, my management of the resources at hand—I'm talking about the quality of the players—was not up to the required standard. We tried our best, but it was clearly not enough. I am convinced that even different choices would not have led to a different outcome." The coach described this departure as "very painful."

New denials

In the past few days, before Uruguay's elimination was confirmed, criticism mounted... There were also rumors of internal tensions, but these were ultimately denied. Bielsa insisted, "I did not meet with the players to change tactics." He stated, "If there had been such a meeting, I would have criticized them, but there wasn't. I unhesitatingly accepted their request to train together rather than in two separate groups, because they wanted to be closer to each other. I agreed with that reason."

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