Marcelo Bielsa was officially presented as coach of the Uruguay national football team. The authorities of the Uruguayan Football Association prepared a tent with capacity for more than 350 journalists from around the world in the Centenario Stadium, although most were Uruguayans, some Argentines and Chileans, and there was a chronicler of beIN Sports, the Qatari sports television network. Of course, the turnout was massive and even the pins were left out.
The Rosario coach looked serious, as always. Although as the questions and his answers went by, he relaxed. So much so that he was encouraged to tell intimate anecdotes, such as the trip he had made with his wife to Montevideo, which at first was for a few days and in the end lasted more than two months.
He also spoke of his past when he recalled when he was a child and went to visit his grandmother in Morteros, a town in the province of Santa Fe where a night tournament was played and the great attraction for the young Bielsa was to see a player nicknamed "La Josefa". "The next day I grabbed the bicycle and circled the block for two hours at La Josefa's house, until I saw him leave," he said.
Bielsa looks stylized. He wore a black sports outfit of the brand of the three strips (his favorite, although now he must wear the celestial team with the logo of the feline) and it was noticed that he is very thin.
Much will have to do with the retreat he made with Laura, his life partner, to a "healthy living" clinic in Porto Alegre, Brazil, last month. There the goal was to lose weight in a place with all the comforts and with a schedule of food and exercise. The Fool is seen in good physical condition, although the ailments of a body that is about to turn 68 (on July 21) are also noticeable.
And although he lost that tummy that comes out with age, what Bielsa never loses is eloquence. Some of his phrases are already circulating on social networks. The clippings of his speech become legends of parades or graffiti, as if he were a poet or a singer-songwriter (let the lyricist not forget... Jaime Roos sings).
And Bielsa does not forget data or information and his convictions. When asked about the style and explains that there are two answers to that question and that in both he would be lying, he left two Uruguayan journalists open-mouthed.
The sequence was repeated in several of the passages of the press conference that Bielsa offered for the press in Uruguay. Faced with an affirmation, a declaration of principles, an analysis or a reflection, many of the attendees looked at each other or elbowed each other without being able to believe what they were hearing. The Uruguayans were flashed with Bielsa.
What happened this Wednesday at the Centenario Stadium was a master class – yet another – from a person who has a "superior intelligence."
This is how the Spanish Victor Orta, former sporting director of Leeds United in England, the person who led him to lead the English team in which Bielsa achieved a historic promotion and the title of the Championship, the English Second Division, defined him: "Bielsa has an intelligence worthy of a Nobel Prize. What happens is that he is dedicated to football. If a Nobel Prize were awarded to football, BIelsa would win it."
In Europe and South America, Bielsa participated in conferences to explain how he develops his activity and the value of the seats cost hundreds of dollars. For this large group of journalists (some privileged) he did it by protocol, but with the quality and professionalism of always.
And from the discursive Bielsa also plays, now back in his land – even if it is in the neighboring country – and without the need for translators. So that his word is consumed pure and transmitted seamlessly.
As he speaks, one on a bicycle passes from the street and shouts: "Come on Bielsa, dammit!" The Argentine coach begins to convince and still has not been in charge of the national team for a minute.
Among those accredited to the event organized by the AUF is Bruno Traversa, president of the subsidiary "Uruguay has Leprosy". He wears the Newell's shirt and says that for 12 years there has been the group that hung a parade at the door of the Centenary: "Bielsa: Newell's loves you".
Bruno Traversa, president of Newell's subsidiary in Uruguay. (Ale Bar, special envoy to Montevideo)
"I owe him the glory. Bielsa is many more things than football because we have learned a lot from him for his philosophy and it fills our hearts every day, "says this leper who was born in Argentina but lived all his life in Uruguay.
Bielsa is wanted in Bilbao, Marseille and Leeds. When asked how he wants to be remembered in Uruguay, he does not hesitate: "There is no human being who does not fight to awaken affection in others." The cycle of Loco Bielsa in La Celeste is already underway.
From Montevideo, special envoy
See also
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