Marcelo Bielsa, former coach of the Chilean soccer team. DANIEL OCHOA DE OLZA (AP)
Chile's path to the next World Cup begins and ends with Uruguay.
Starting from Montevideo, in September of this year, which should be a game with special flavors, because on that inaugural date Marcelo Bielsa should be sitting on the bench for the Charrúas, if the federation of that country manages to get the resources that still exist. They are missing to close a contract that in sports is fully defined.
That Marcelo Bielsa is the Uruguayan coach is almost a miracle.
In more than 110 years of history, only once has a foreigner held that position: Daniel Alberto Passarella, in a brief period just at the beginning of this century.
Bielsa breaks a tradition and a paradigm, with the blessing of his oriental colleagues included, which marks an ostensible difference with
the Chilean Red
, which has not had a Chilean in charge since 2005 and which throughout its history has added 25 foreign coaches (including Uruguayans, Italians, English, Hungarians, Argentines, Germans, Croatians, Spanish and Colombians).
Of those multiple foreign technicians there are several who earned a place in history.
The Uruguayan Julián Bértola added the first point;
the Italian José Rosetti won the first game;
the Hungarian Francisco Platko tactically revolutionized the players;
Uruguayan Nelson Acosta added an Olympic bronze medal and Argentine Jorge Sampaoli won the first Copa América, which would later be repeated by his compatriot Juan Antonio Pizzi.
But there seems to be no doubt in pointing to Marcelo Bielsa as the most important coach to have passed through the national team, capitalizing on a generation of young footballers whom he led to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. There were no titles in his tenure, but Chile got used to it. to be an outstanding protagonist every time he jumped onto the field and the bases of his game were maintained when -breaking a constant curse- Chile won two continental trophies defeating Messi's Argentina.
Bielsa was sanctified and in his farewell, precisely against Uruguay, there was crying in the stands and on the field for a virtuous cycle that was closing, much to the regret of the Rosario and the fans.
The arrival of Sergio Jadue, the controversial president of the Chilean Federation who betrayed the leaders of Conmebol and today is a protected witness of the US justice -his trial was postponed for the fifteenth time a few weeks ago- meant a break for the transformation process that placed the team on the planetary map.
His successor Claudio Borghi coined a term to symbolize the sentiment of a large part of the fans after the game: "The widows of Bielsa", alluding, he said, to the fact that the man from Rosario had left "more widows than the Second World War".
All in all, the clean and jerk served for at least six or seven more years, qualifying for a new World Cup (where they defeated Spain, the current world champion, at the Maracana) and playing in the final of the Confederations Cup.
Over time, the team lost speed and power and ended up consumed by its own internal quarrels.
Today, the remnants of
the golden generation
, where Alexis Sánchez, Arturo Vidal, Claudio Bravo and Gary Medel survive, battle to scratch some of the new quotas provided by FIFA for the 2026 World Cup. And that is where Bielsa appears another time on the way.
Little is said about heredity.
Perhaps in another sphere, since his brother Rafael took charge of the Argentine embassy in Santiago to star in several of the tastiest bilateral controversies of recent years.
And the permanent longing for a style that dazzled.
It is said that Marcelo Bielsa – after passing through Bilbao, Lille, Marseille and Leeds – takes advantage of the proximity of Montevideo and the challenge of leading a Uruguayan generation that dispenses with its old
cracks
to, headed by Federico Valverde, aspire to make laurels green again.
In Argentina, Bielsa continues to be the subject of eternal debate after his early elimination from the 2002 World Cup despite having illustrious names on his roster.
There are those who maintain that that squad had more talents than the recently consecrated world champions.
However, the fact that Bielsa crosses the path of Chile towards the next World Cup, reopened wounds, nostalgia and debates, in a relationship that is not forgotten, marked by the most profound change in history.
No matter how short it lasted.
Aldo Schiappacasse
is one of the leading sports journalism firms in Chile.
With a career in television, radio and written media, he is one of the hosts of País ADN.
