Marcelo Bielsa says Copa America is run by a "plague of liars"

Uruguay head coach Marcelo Bielsa made no secret of his disdain for the organization of the 2024 Copa America.

Bielsa, not known as someone to hold his tongue, was furious at the state of the pitches in the United States throughout the competition.

The 68-year-old veteran manager recently went on a lengthy rant regarding young South American players fleeing to Europe clubs, but little did we know that would be only a minor outburst.

Bielsa, however, was not criticizing the youngsters. Instead, he was voicing frustrations over the South American clubs allowing their best young talents to leave the continent.

The coach’s latest verbal attack centered around the organizers of Copa America 2024. The competition, which is typically held in a South American nation, was hosted by the United States this time.

While the tournament is one of the top national team competitions in the world, the execution of the current Copa America has undoubtedly been subpar.

One of the biggest issues with Copa America 2024 has been the overall condition of the pitches. Many of the fields used at the tournament are at NFL stadiums that typically use synthetic turfs. Copa America officials forced these arenas to install real grass on top of the fake fields. This move, however, has created unpredictable playing surfaces.

Bielsa labels Copa America organizers as “liars” due to issues with fields

Argentina’s coach Lionel Scaloni and star goalkeeper Emi Martinez previously condemned the playing surface during their game with Canada at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Brazil superstar Vinicius Junior also lambasted similar field issues following a previous draw with Colombia.

On Friday, it was Bielsa’s turn to criticize the problem. The coach, however, took the issue quite a bit further than his previous counterparts. “All of the lies that they’ve told,” Bielsa began, speaking on tournament organizers.

“They do press conferences and say ‘no, the fields are perfect, the training pitches are perfect.’… I have all the photos that show that these are all lies. They are a plague of liars. Now, I’ve already said everything I promised (organizers and the federation) I wouldn’t say. There are punishments coming.”

“These are all errors that were known beforehand,” continued the coach. “The North Americans don’t say — ‘you’re going to get a perfect pitch.’ They tell you ‘we’ll give you a field installed three days ago, or (x) amount of days ago.’ … The training pitches were a disaster.”

“They do a press conference and say it’s an optical illusion. Vinicius (Junior) can’t see. That (Lionel) Scaloni shouldn’t talk. That the training pitches are all perfect when we all have a collection of the (bad pitches).”

Coach defends his players for previous melee with fans

Uruguay lost to Colombia in the Copa America semifinals. As a result, they will next face Canada in the third-place game. The matchup will take place on Saturday, July 13th at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. Uruguay will be quite familiar with the particular venue. Bielsa’s team suffered their recent defeat to rivals Colombia at the arena.

While the loss was certainly disappointing, the thrilling game was unfortunately marred by an incident after the final whistle. Following the matchup, some Uruguayan players were fighting Colombian fans in the stands. The stars, including Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez, entered the seats to protect their families against the opponent’s fan base.

Along with criticizing Copa America officials, Bielsa also defended his players for the unfortunate scenes against Colombia. The coach claimed that the players “reacted like any other human would” in the incident. It remains to be seen if Uruguay and/or their players will be sanctioned for their involvement in the clash. Nevertheless, CONMEBOL is currently investigating the issue.

Photo credits: IMAGO / Agencia-MexSport.