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Bielsa Leaving Chile post

PaulMcC

By PaulMcC,
in FF - Football Forum

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PaulMcC Grand Master

PaulMcC

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BBC - Tim Vickery: Bielsa's early exit such a waste for Chile

 

Bielsa's early exit such a waste for Chile

 

Post categories: Football

 

Tim Vickery | 10:00 UK time, Monday, 8 November 2010

 

A successful and promising relationship has come to a premature end with the news that Marcelo Bielsa will not continue as coach of Chile.

 

There is little point in appointing a foreign coach unless he brings something fresh - which the eccentric, but highly respected Argentine certainly has in the course of his three years in charge.

 

He took Chile to their first World Cup since 1998, winning more away games than anyone else in the qualification campaign. In South Africa in 2010, Chile quickly became the neutral's favourite. In a tournament dominated by caution, Chile's carefree attacking approach was a joy to behold.

 

The performances of the team said more about Marcelo Bielsa than they did about Chilean football.

 

He coaxed from his players a faithful representation of the approach that has made him one of the most interesting coaches around over the last 20 years.

 

His idea is always to attack, no matter where the game is played and who the opponents might be. He wants the play to take place in the opponent's half of the field. Whatever the shape of the side - 3-3-1-3 is his favoured formation - there are a number of constants; his team will always seek to play at a high tempo, with a central striker and two wingers and the aim of creating two-against-one situations down the flanks.

 

Before working with Chile, Bielsa was in charge of his native Argentina from 1998 to 2004. In a very significant way, Chile was easier for him.

 

Argentina has a highly developed sense of its own footballing identity, to which the number 10 is crucial. Juan Roman Riquelme, with his elegant, foot-on-the-ball playmaking, is the guardian of the flame. Bielsa, though, had no place for him. Rather than the changes in rhythm that Riquelme inspires, the coach was looking for all out dynamism - which left him open to criticisms that he was trying to Europeanise the national team.

 

During his reign it was common for club coaches in Argentina to differentiate themselves from Bielsa by stressing their commitment to 'the pause' - the moment when the old-style number 10 slows the game down in order to rethink the attack. In Argentina, then, Bielsa often found himself swimming against a powerful current.

 

He had no such problem in Chile. "There's been no continuity," I was told a few years ago by Elias Figueroa, one of Chile's all-time greats. "We've tried to imitate Argentina. We've tried to imitate Brazil. We've tried to imitate Germany and Spain." From Bielsa's point of view, this lack of fixed identity was a plus point. It meant that his approach would meet with less cultural resistance.

 

Late 2007 was also a good time to take over. Humiliated on the field in that year's Copa America and with disciplinary problems off it, Chile appeared to have hit rock bottom. The only way was up - and giving momentum to the rise was the fact that an excellent generation of youngsters had just reached the semi-finals of the World Youth Cup.

 

They were to prove Bielsa's raw material. His bold gameplan requires a high level of fitness. He inherited an exciting group of players with young legs and open minds, and made a team of them. Versatile defenders or midfielders Arturo Vidal, Gary Medel and Mauricio Isla, central midfielder Carlos Carmona and, above all, wonderful little right winger Alexis Sanchez were all graduates from the World Youth Cup campaign who became stalwarts of the senior side.

 

Bielsa's option to stand down is frustrating for two reasons. Firstly, because he and his young side could have gone on to achieve much more. And secondly, because their time together could have been even better.

 

Three goals in four World Cup games was a disappointing return for a side of such attacking ambition. They would surely have scored more had centre forward Humberto Suazo been fully fit. Top scorer in the South American World Cup qualifiers, he was recovering from an injury when he was unwisely risked in a warm-up match. Injured once more, he was nowhere near 100% in South Africa.

 

In retrospect, Mauricio Pinilla should have been in the squad. Once briefly in Scotland with Hearts, Pinilla has been once briefly with a lot of clubs in a number of different countries. The striker came close to throwing away his own career with his wild-child antics. But he has always been a highly gifted player, potentially of genuine world class - as he has hinted in Italian football over the last 18 months. Especially in the absence of a fit Suazo, Pinilla would have been a useful option in South Africa.

 

He has been recalled for next week's game at home to Uruguay, seemingly Bielsa's swansong in charge of Chile. The idea of Alexis Sanchez and Pinilla operating together is an appealing one for Chile fans - but after next week it will not be Bielsa's job to get their talents to combine. He is leaving because Harold Mayne-Nicholls was not re-elected last week as president of Chile's FA. Before the election Bielsa made it very clear that he would not work with the opposition candidate Jorge Segovia.

 

Mayne-Nicholls, though, only carried the votes of six of Chile's First Division clubs. Segovia won the other 12, including the Santiago big three of Colo Colo, Universidad de Chile and Universidad Catolica. The election was, and continues to be controversial, with conspiracy theories flying around and claims that Segovia might be prevented from taking office on complicated legal grounds.

 

Mayne-Nicholls, though, has made it clear that he will not be coming back. One of the major complaints about him was the grumble that he prioritised the national team and his Fifa work over the domestic championship. He recently served as the chairman of the Fifa inspection committee which visited the countries bidding to stage the World Cups of 2018 and 2022.

Polished and articulate, he cut an impressive figure. But he has been cast out by an internal revolt at the very moment when his international prestige was at its highest. As a result, the national team is parting company with one of the world's most respected and interesting coaches. Chile's new regime will have to come up with something special to make up for the loss of Marcelo Bielsa.

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Trumo Grand Master

Trumo

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Excellent coach who deserves praise for going against the grain of the typical modern coach. For club football he is best suited to working with a squad of younger players who will more readily buy into his methods rather than a squad of experienced pros who are more set in their ways. Above all he needs to be given time to make it work. That might sound strange considering I've been quite vocal regarding Roy, but that was because Roy's methodology and demeanour were anything but positive whereas Bielsa has proven to be an innovative coach who wants his teams to go at the opposition. He takes away the fear and tells his players that any team can be got at.

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Guest PurpleNose

Guest PurpleNose

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Reina

Kelly Carragher Agger

Meireles Lucas Gerrard

Cole

Johnson Torres Jovanovic

 

Think we'd probably line up like this under Bielsa. Before he had the chance to replace 80% of the squad of course.

 

Be good fun whilst it lasted.

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  • 1 year later...
Horus Mentor

Horus

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Bonus! Let's get him in. Would love to see his greeting Dave Whelan in the executive office for the first time.

 

So desperate, are posters to shoehorn Dave Whelan references in, that posts are no longer required to make sense.

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dennis tooth Grand Master

dennis tooth

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I want to know what happend to kirkdale nick and why he was banned. What a thrilling yarn would he be telling us in this very thread were he not cut down in his prime we may never now know. If no one can remember we can have a whip around and I'll take out an advert in the echo: kirkdale nick? You posted in the bielsa thread area circa 2010 and were banned shortly afterwards? Is this you? We are looking for anyone who may know of or may be related to this person to complete our records. Please contact dave@tlw. Red nick need not apply.

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