Luis Suarez has criticized Uruguay national team coach Marcelo Bielsa's management from a human perspective, saying members of La Celeste are not part of the national team.
The Inter Miami attacker, who retired from La Celeste after the South American qualifier against Paraguay, said he had an “only professional” relationship with Bielsa and that his departure was due to the bad situation he had created domestically in Uruguay, revealed during an interview on the show. “You Talk About Football Like This” (Directv).
El Pistolero said that the complaints against Bielsa are due to the human side and the bond he has with the players and officials of the Uruguayan Celeste complex. “When it comes to decisions as a coach, who plays, who you name, do what you want, but this is Uruguay. Over the years, we have lived together since 2007 and worked hard to make the campus grow and become what it is today, and it hurts that you couldn't experience it all. You see players go and they don't enjoy it. You see them having fun in their teams, they smile, they don't do it in the national team, they don't enjoy it.. What the national team is going through hurts me, there are colleagues who are not going to come out and say that, that's understandable,” commented Suarez.
He said officials were not allowed to have contact with players outside of their duties, and that both Ignacio Alonso, the president of the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF), and Jorge Giordano, the manager of the national teams, were aware. Discomfort of football players. “It pains me to say it, but Alonso and Giordano allowed it. They are the ones who gave him that power to maintain that relationship with the staff,” he pointed out.
Suarez explained that there were many situations that created friction during the coexistence days during the Copa America, one of which was, “At least say good morning,” a plea from the group to Bielsa. “There I already argued with Agustin Canopio. As captain at the time, I told them I was going to talk to the coach and I told Giordano that I wanted to talk to Bielsa to say we are all in the same boat. I sat in front of him, spoke for five minutes and told him we supported him and respected his decisions… He looked at me and said, 'Thank you very much, Louis'. I got up and went. Five minutes after I spoke he didn't answer me.. I got no reply. Since then, I agreed to keep calm and respect what he said until I continue on my way and decide what I am going to do with the national team,” said the all-time top scorer. La Celeste.
Suarez said the Atletico Paranense forward “felt diminished” by the situation with Canopio, who did not reappear in the Uruguay squad after venting his anger at the last Copa America. While the version was put forward that it was because Bayelsa was using Canopio as a ball catcher in training, Pistolero clarified that was not the case, but did what sparring partners do. “There were three sparring partners under the age of 20, and in the half of the cup Agustin made the sparring partners pass and he made the players do the moves. You can't engage a 26-year-old player called for the cup like he's a sparring partner. It bothers me, “I understand Agus. He's back a little bit, it's normal for him to get to that point,” Suarez said, adding that not one of Bielsa's assistants had noticed their movements, and that the substitutes had been trained only minutes after the match.
After receiving some criticism from Bielsa, the striker described another situation Darwin Nunes experienced at half-time of the game against Argentina at La Bombonera. “I saw Darwin crying and I told him: 'You are here because of what you deserve, what you work for, you are a scorer and you are the best.. Forget what others say and go on like this. Wash your face and go out and break.' That's why I was the first to congratulate him when he scored. To me, Darwin needs affection, support and control, not other things. I ran into the coach in the hallway and he said, 'We don't help him with those things.' I was shocked and told him I had to support him. After the win, Bielsa congratulated me and said, 'You know what's going on? If you don't talk to him like that… you saw what happened in the second half.' I told him my role was to control it,” he said.
Suarez added that all this did not damage the unity of the team among themselves, but “on the contrary, it strengthened it”. “Nahitan [Nández] He told me: 'You're lucky to have a good team and the team is cohesive,' he commented. According to Suarez, another incident that brought unity among the footballers occurred when one of Bielsa's assistants asked them not to greet Uruguayan civilians at the entrance of a hotel in a city in Copa America. “I stood up on the bus and said: as the captain, thanks to the people, we all stopped, guys, we did it. The next day, the coach talked about how this Uruguayan is, he competes and plays for the people … We looked at each other: you don't congratulate us How about people asking? It's easy to talk and it's easy for people to hear what they want to hear, but those aren't really stories, and that hurts me a lot,” he said.
Regarding his decision to retire from the national team, Edinson Cavani, Diego Godin, Fernando Muslera or Matthias VecinoGunslinger said he had spoken to Cavani and the two agreed in terms of what they had experienced at this stage. He referred to Vecino's situation and said he believed he was coming from that side, even though he hadn't spoken to him. “For a 29- or 30-year-old player to make that decision, it's because he's reached the threshold of feeling neglected, belittled.. And there is no need to be surprised if there are more cases,'' he said.
Asked why he decided to talk about it now, he said he wanted to express himself and didn't have time for it, but Bielsa's words about him in his last conference shocked him. The coach praised Pistolero's performance and ability, and Suarez said he was struck by the fact that he had never sent anything like him domestically.
