Uruguay’s football federation (AUF) are believed to have canceled the team’s chartered flight home to punish their players after the team failed to progress to the World Cup knockout stages, according to reports.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side lost their final group stage game against Spain 1-0 on Friday and after Cape Verde pulled off yet another draw against Saudi Arabia, the two-time winners were condemned to the bottom of Group H.
After their early departure from Guadalajara in Mexico on Saturday, Uruguayan outlet Ovacion reported that the AUF were in no mood to see their players fly back to Montevideo in comfort.
After cancelling the planned chartered flight, the 26 members of the delegation will instead take commercial flights back home.
Draws against Saudi Arabia and Cape Verde in their preceding group stage matches failed to enliven Uruguay’s fans, and after defeat to Luis de la Fuente’s Spain, tensions in the camp bubbled over during a particularly bad-tempered interview with Bielsa at full-time.
Waiting for the reporter to finish setting up on the pitch, Bielsa shouted ‘get on with it’ at the journalist, in a combustible moment caught on the broadcast live.
Uruguay failed to progress from the World Cup group stage for the second tournament in row
Marcelo Bielsa took full responsibility – although admitted that he didn’t choose to substitute his goalkeeper at half-time
In his final press conference, the former Leeds manager opted not to hold back, sharing that he had contributed ‘nothing’ to the national team over his three-year stint.
‘What I gave Uruguayan football is nothing, because any contribution a coach makes to a national team over three years is futile without positive outcomes,’ Bielsa said.
‘I don’t need to speak any further about our performance at the World Cup. If you ask how they are going to remember me, they will remember me as having left nothing.’
‘The journalists, the Uruguayan supporters, you all want to blame me for what happened, and I must take the blame. It is the only right thing to do.’
Bielsa also revealed that one of his own players had chosen to substitute himself during the match, with 40-year-old goalkeeper Fernando Muslera swapped at half-time for Sergio Rochet.
Muslera had been at fault for the sole goal in the Mexican clash, with the veteran accidentally spilling Alex Baena’s shot minutes before the break.
‘The Muslera change was not my decision, it was Fernando,’ Bielsa told reporters.
As well as bowing out of the World Cup at the group stage for the second tournament in a row, injury was added to insult after Manchester United star Manuel Ugarte was taken off on a stretcher during the match.
Ugarte suffered the injury in an attempt to make a tackle before Baena’s goal and he – and his club – will face a nervous wait to determine how serious it is.
Man United were believed to strongly favour moving on the midfielder this summer, either via a loan move or a sale, but will now prioritise waiting for an update on the 25-year-old’s condition.
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