Argentina's Marcelo Bielsa has taken over as Uruguay's coach after they lost 1-0 to Colombia in the Copa America semi-finals. United States 2024 finished despite La Celeste still playing with a man down throughout the second half.
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“If one evaluates the players in each team, Uruguay were clearly in a position to win this match and it's my turn to manage a team that is, from a personal point of view, the best.” Bielsa made the comments during a press conference at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. “Unable to establish an advantage, I take special responsibility for having players who can do so.”
Bielsa, despite being dismissed, showed bravery with his colleagueCoach Nestor Lorenzo at the end of the game.
As soon as the final whistle blew, the Colombians went from the bench to the field to celebrate, the coaching staff not far away, they hugged each other and jumped for joy. Bielsa walked towards the Colombian bank with his head down and when he saw them celebrating, he gave his colleague a thumbs up, who broke out of the group hug and they hugged.
With defender Daniel Muñoz (45+1) sent off, Uruguay played outnumbered for half the game, but Colombia prevailed. They should advance to Sunday's final against Argentina in Miami.
“Moments where we could have leveled the game, we didn't achieve that in the first half” And Bielsa opined that “in the second half, with one more man, the game was unnatural because it was a game with countless interceptions.”
Jefferson Lerma headed home a corner kick from James Rodriguez in the 38th minute to seal the game with a set piece.
“Goals from set pieces are combined with the performance of the kicker, the aerial play of the substitute and the opposition we present. It's not surprising that the receivers, headers and good headers in Colombia (…) By losing, we have reduced the power to moderate action,” he pointed out.
The helmsman believes a draw that sent everything to a penalty shootout would have been “fair”.
“I'm honest: I wanted the Colombian player's exit not to happenBecause the way Colombia played for us, what happened in the second half made it more difficult than when they were eleven,” analyzed Bielsa. “I think we deserved the tie.”
Anyway, he was self-deprecating: “Even though we had clear chances, I feel we should have created more goal chances than we did”.
“We have tried all possible avenues (to equalise)”, he concluded, but “trying all possible avenues does not absolve us of the responsibility of not being able to bring out a match where we were in a position to do so”.
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