Marcelo Bielsa explains the “Guardiola damage”
Marcelo Bielsa does not usually give interviews, but every time he speaks he leaves interesting concepts to reflect and debate. His last press conference with the Uruguayan team, in the run-up to the matches against Colombia and Brazil in the South American Qualifiers, was no exception.
On this occasion, the technical director of La Celeste went viral by developing his theory “Guardiola’s damage”, which consists of the changes generated within modern football by the current Manchester City strategist, who repeatedly made it clear his predilection for the style that the Fool proclaims.
“For a team to sound good with little rehearsal is a fantasy. There is a way for a team to work more or less well without rehearsing, speculation is much easier. Did you see the games of the teams that play against… Now there is a very common thing that is how someone who feels worse plays against someone who feels better. I call it the ‘Guardiola damage’. What Guardiola achieved is not that his unmatched fantasy for the construction of the game was imitated, but what he achieved is that 11 players opposed his team on a field that measures 30 meters deep,” the former Argentina coach began his story. in Korea-Japan 2002 and Chile in South Africa 2010.
Continuing with his story, he added: “What did he achieve? It may be difficult for him to win the games a little more, but he continues to win them and continues to obtain the victories that he has. Furthermore, there is a fantasy that we mediocre people use, including myself, which is to say that we cannot do what Guardiola does because we do not have the players for such a construction full of attractions that it is to see a Guardiola team. But that is not true either, because Guardiola has many imitators who, without players, have achieved very valuable football expressions. And at the same time, there are many coaches with players equal to or better than Guardiola who have not built an expression as worthy of being seen as he has done. What am I trying to say? That in this process or development of the Uruguay project there is no room for excuses, because no excuse exempts you from the fair claim linked to obtaining the result. And there is also no time for the development and consolidation of an idea. “That is not an obstacle for me.”
The Rosario’s process at the head of the Celeste is just taking its first steps. After two victories in friendly matches (2-0 against Cuba and 4-1 against Nicaragua), Uruguay began its path towards the United States, Canada and Mexico 2026 World Cup with a 3-1 victory against Chile and a 2-1 defeat against Ecuador at the height of Quito.
Regarding the momentous duel against the coffee growers, he outlined: “The difficulties that we are going to encounter against Colombia are the same ones that we found against Ecuador. We are going to star, to play in the rival field and we are not going to speculate. What constitutes a problem is important to learn to solve.”
“From my point of view, Uruguay is a team that has great contributions in dynamics, mobility, and rhythm. Based on the movement, they have players who are very technically capable of starring and winning games. The game against Ecuador, physical performance was 30 percent lower,” he added.
On the other hand, he valued the quality of soccer players that the Celeste has in comparison to the Verdeamarela: “I think that half of the players from Uruguay are comparable to half of the Brazilian players. There are five or six Uruguayan players who can compete with five or six Brazilian players and who, depending on who evaluates them, will say this is better or worse. There is no unanimity that Uruguayan players are worse than Brazilians. And if half the team are debatable, then there is a lot of room for illusion. If you ask me what my dream is, I dream that we win in Colombia and that we can be better than Brazil. That is my illusion. I think that for both games Uruguay is in a position to dream.”
2023-10-07 12:36:16
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