Bielsa takes sole blame after Uruguay exit World Cup without a single win

Marcelo Bielsa closed his Uruguay chapter with a bleak self-assessment on Friday, saying he had left “nothing” behind after the team’s 1-0 defeat to Spain sent them out of the 2026 FIFA World Cup without a single win.

Uruguay finished Group H with two points from three matches — draws against Saudi Arabia and Cape Verde, then the loss to Spain — as debutants Cape Verde advanced in second place behind the group winners. At 19th in the FIFA rankings, Uruguay were the highest-ranked side eliminated from the tournament at that stage.

“What do I leave for Uruguayan soccer?” Bielsa said in his post-match press conference. “Nothing, because any contribution that a coach might make to soccer in a country after three years of work never truly takes hold if results aren’t achieved. Fourth place in the qualifiers didn’t count for much, and a third-place finish in the Copa América didn’t, either. And there is obviously no need to spell it out after what happened now. A tenure that left nothing behind.”

Bielsa, whose contract with Uruguay’s football federation ran through the tournament, had previously indicated he would step down once the World Cup concluded. His voice carried what he himself described as a farewell tone.

The 69-year-old accepted personal responsibility for the campaign, arguing he should have extracted more from a squad he considered talented enough to do better. Yet he also felt fortune had not been on Uruguay’s side.

“I think we deserved to win seven points from the three matches, but we leave with only two points,” he said.

It was the second time in Bielsa’s career that a team under his charge failed to advance past the group stage at a World Cup. Argentina were eliminated at the same hurdle at the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan. His best World Cup result came with Chile in 2010, when he guided them to the round of 16 in South Africa.