Lima, Oct 13: Uruguay’s all-time top scorer Luis Suarez, who recently called the curtain on his international career, had criticised the man management on display by head coach Marcelo Bielsa. After the side’s 0-1 loss in the FIFA WC Qualifier vs Peru, the coach claimed Suarez’s comments “affected his authority” with the team.
“As for how the situation affected me, I don’t ignore what happened, and I know that my authority was affected in some way. What happened during the week does not condition or explain how we played, nor do I think it has had an effect because it was a week with a lot of effervescence.“It didn’t alter the conviction with which the match was prepared and the way the group and the coaching staff worked. The preparation was the same as always,” Bielsa was quoted saying by BBC.
Uruguay’s loss meant the side sits third in the ongoing FIFA WC Qualifiers behind world champions Argentina and Colombia.Suarez, who retired in September, revealed the strict regulations brought by the new head coach and the effect it had on the team’s morale.“At the Celeste Complex, employees are not allowed to come in and greet us and eat with us. They have to be careful even at the door they have to enter. It breaks my heart that this is how life is in the Complex today.“There were situations at the Copa America that hurt me, but I didn’t say them for the sake of coexistence. Many players held a meeting to ask the coach to at least say good morning to us, but he didn’t even say hello,” said Suarez to DSports.
Uruguay Football Federation president Ignacio Alonso also backed his team’s head coach following Suarez’s interview.“Correct, what Luis said is true, he has told me things, and Jorge (Giordano) as well, but I don’t want to comment on Luis’s interview and I don’t want to give details of situations that must be handled behind closed doors. When it comes to internal affairs management, it is to always treat them as insiders and that was managed very well.
“You must always collaborate by maintaining the reserve. I saw Bielsa working as always, he is a coach very aware of the things he has in hand, hard-working like few others, meticulous, he is on top of all the details and did not have any alterations,” Ignacio Alonso told the De futbol se habla asi show. (IANS)
