Uruguay turning on the Bielsaball whilst playing in all white… 🥺pic.twitter.com/LJSmpq2Bqx
— Tommo (@LUFC1992_v2) June 6, 2024
Now we’re seeing it at the tournament proper, too.
Uruguay kicked things off in decent enough fashion, beating Panama 3-1. But it was their second outing that really pointed to them being capable of going all the way in the coming weeks.
Bolivia simply couldn’t live with Uruguay as American spectators in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium were treated to an exhibition of prime Bielsaball in a 5-0 mauling.
Take a look at the way they dashed up the pitch, seconds after winning the ball back on the edge of their own box. Bolivia had just taken a throw-in in the final third and within the blink of an eye they were fearing for their lives, such is the relentless verticality that’s a hallmark of Bielsa’s best teams.
Darwin Núñez scores for Uruguay! 🔥
The @LFC forward makes it 2-0 to Marcelo Bielsa’s side against Bolivia 🇺🇾 pic.twitter.com/UDXH6s70mG
— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) June 28, 2024
One tackle. Three passes. Barely a dozen touches. Ten seconds. From one box to the other and into the back of Bolivia’s net.
Darwin Nunez timed his run perfectly, looking like the second coming of Copa America legend Gabriel Batistuta, such his intelligent movement and dead-eyed finishing ability.
Darwin Nunez? Intelligent? Dead-eyed? Efficiency is not a concept you associate with a striker who’s just endured two bafflingly bonkers seasons with Liverpool. Yet he’s a different beast for Bielsa’s Uruguay, for whom he’s now scored in seven successive games.
Uruguay aren’t quite through to the last eight just yet, although it would take an almighty collapse and goal difference swing in the final match against hosts USA for them not to end up as group winners, which ought to give them a forgiving quarter-final draw.
Who knows where this will end up. Playing as they are, we can certainly imagine Bielsa’s men rocking up to the final at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida and taking Lionel Messi’s Copa America on his own patch.
But maybe this’ll end in glorious failure. For his mythical status in the game, Bielsa’s career is not littered with silverware, with a last-gasp Adriano equaliser famously denying his Argentina the Copa America exactly two decades ago.
Whatever happens, Bielsa’s Uruguay are playing the kind of football you wouldn’t want to miss. Set your alarms for the Marcelo Bielsa & Darwin Nunez show. Appointment viewing.
Source link : https://www.planetfootball.com/latest/marcelo-bielsa-uruguay-leeds-bielsaball-darwin-nunez-copa-america-another-planet
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Publish date : 2024-06-28 04:02:28
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