After a match that looked favorable heading into the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the Uruguayan national team suffered another embarrassing blow. In addition to current European champions Spain, the South American team was scheduled to play Cape Verde, who were appearing in the World Cup for the first time, and Saudi Arabia, which had a perennially poor record.
However, the two-time World Cup winners will return home early after losing 1-0 to Spain on Friday. The squad, which included Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde and former Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez, had originally planned to fly back to Uruguay on a private plane.
According to Uruguayan media outlet “Tenfield”, the AUF (Uruguayan Football Federation) has ordered the players to return home on commercial planes.
Even the expanded 48-team structure proved insufficient for Uruguay to emerge as one of the best teams in third place. Marcelo Bielsa’s side only picked up two points after draws against Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia.
Uruguay will represent the highest-ranked FIFA country (19th place) that failed to qualify. Bielsa, 70, confirmed he was resigning in an impassioned speech after the match.
Bielsa said through an interpreter, “I have nothing to leave behind from Uruguayan soccer, because no matter how much support you give to a country where you’ve worked as a soccer coach for three years, it’s meaningless if you don’t get results.”
“Fourth place in World Cup qualifying was worth nothing, third place in the Copa America was worth nothing. And obviously I don’t need to explain this result. But if you ask me how my tenure will be remembered, I left nothing behind as a tenure.
“Journalists, Uruguay supporters, you all want to blame me for what happened, but I have to take responsibility for it. That is the only right thing to do,” he added.
Two of Bielsa’s decisions were particularly controversial in Friday’s match. First, veteran goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, who has been the first choice to start since the 2010 World Cup, made a costly mistake early on and was sent off at half-time.
“No, I didn’t accept (the decision),” Bielsa said after the match. “That was a decision Muslera made himself.”
Substitute Sergio Roche came on in the second half. The second flashpoint came in the 57th minute when Bielsa removed Valverde and replaced him with striker Federico Vinas. The Real Madrid star was visibly furious and ignored his coach’s handshake as he left the pitch.
“This was a decision Muslera himself made, Valverde, I wanted to have a more attacking strategy, so I used him instead of Federico Viñas,” Bielsa said.
