Marcelo Bielsa ignores Luis Suarez criticism and stuns Uruguay with World Cup decision

Uruguay head coach Marcelo Bielsa is well renowned for being a single-minded figure, so a big decision made by the 69-year-old ahead of March’s World Cup qualifiers should perhaps come as little surprise.

The Celeste will face Argentina and Bolivia as they seek to secure their place at World Cup 2026 in the USA. A pair of victories could be enough to seal their spot officially at the competition.

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In order to achieve this Bielsa has taken the unusual step of calling up an incredible 36 players to contest these two fixtures, which take place on 21 March and 25 March.

Among the headline Uruguay internationals to make the squad are Real Madrid’s Fede Valverde, Manchester United’s Manuel Ugarte and Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez. Much of the squad, though, is drawn from players already based in South America, making such an expanded panel even more difficult to understand.

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Luis Suarez hits out at Bielsa

Bielsa’s management of the Uruguay national side, meanwhile, has previously come under fire from Inter Miami striker Luis Suarez, who is not in the squad after he retired in September.

The former Liverpool and Barcelona star particularly criticised the coaching style of the former Leeds United boss, claiming that some players are used as little more than training ground props.

“A player who is one of the 26 selected for the Copa America can’t be made to participate as if he were a ‘sparring’ partner. It’s annoying,” he told DSports (via Reuters) in October, citing in particular the case of Agustin Canobbio, who was a spare man and ball boy in training during the summer’s competition.

“Bielsa has divided the whole group because of the way he trains.

“The players will reach a limit, they’ll explode. There were even team-mates who said to me they were only playing in the Copa America and nothing else.

“We all know that he doesn’t like to deal with leaders or players with experience. I had to keep quiet out of respect for the national team and for the sake of coexistence. I didn’t want to be part of the problem.”

It seems that Bielsa has ignored Luis Suarez’s criticism with his 36-man Uruguay selection, with a good number of those players unlikely to see any match action.