Former Leeds United coach Marcel Bielsa guided Uruguay to a 2-0 win over Argentina last night.
Goals from Araujo and Darwin Nunez sealed a crucial result away from home in their World Cup qualifying campaign. The win was a landmark one; the first time the Uruguayans have beaten Brazil and Argentina in consecutive games since 1959.
Marcelo Bielsa has led Uruguay to beat both historic rivals (Argentina and Brazil) in back to back matches for the first time since 1959
He has done something historic in only his 5th official match with Uruguay pic.twitter.com/1kUBOOJMiY
— Uruguay Football ENG (@UruguayFootENG) November 17, 2023
Last night was only Bielsa’s fifth game in charge of La Celeste. Already his influence on the team has been clear to see – the swashbuckling high intensity style has seen a lot of goals so far.
In the last month, Bielsa’s Uruguay have beaten the #1 and #3 teams in the FIFA world rankings (Argentina and Brazil).
Arguably the best team in the world right now. Genuine contender for the 2026 World Cup. https://t.co/Cbh3HJz7vh
— Leeds United Bay Area (@LUFCBayArea) November 17, 2023
Balon D’or winner and Argentina captain Lionel Messi was blown away by Uruguay’s performance:
“You can see Bielsa’s hand on the way Uruguay is playing,” Messi said after the match. “In all the national teams or clubs, including Argentina, his style was very recognizable. And he has a good generation of players [in Uruguay].”
“They are an intense team and it was difficult for us to play our game,” Messi said. “They have physical and fast players in the midfield. We never feel comfortable and we didn’t find a way to posses the ball for a long period of time.
“So the game was played on a fast pace and we fall for that style, which isn’t the best for us.”
Uruguay now sit in second place in the COMNEBOL World Cup Qualifying standings, two points behind leaders Argentina. Their next game is against Bolivia.
