'All crazy' - Uruguay chief offers stern defence of Leeds United icon Marcelo Bielsa after Luis Suarez comments

The president of the Uruguayan Football Association has attempted to calm speculation surrounding the future of national team boss Marcelo Bielsa, who has come under fire from former players in recent weeks.

Former Liverpool and Barcelona striker Luis Suarez recently claimed Bielsa had ‘separated’ the squad during this summer’s run to the Copa America semi-finals, criticising the former Leeds United manager’s treatment of Agustín Canobbio. The winger played just one minute during the tournament and allegedly trained away from starters, something Suarez took issue with.

“I had a five-minute chat with Bielsa, speaking as a group leader, and at the end he only replied, ‘Thank you very much’,” Suarez said last month. “Tomorrow, I ask people not to take it out on the players if something goes wrong. Bielsa has separated the whole group, even in the way they train.”

Those comments were backed up by another well-respected Uruguay international, with Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde claiming parts of what Suarez said are true. And pressure continued to increase on Bielsa during an October international break in which his side took just one point from 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Peru and Ecuador.

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But FA Chief Ignacio Alonso has publicly backed the Leeds icon, pointing to their standing in the qualifying table. Uruguay are currently third in the 10-team league, above Brazil, and look well-placed to finish in the top six, which would guarantee a spot at the World Cup.

“If we start speculating about the coach, we are all crazy,” Alonso said, as quoted by @UruguayFootENG on X. “We are calm. We knew we were going to go through a turbulent zone and we are now coming out of it. We are still in a privileged place in the table.”

Uruguay have eight more qualifying matches to secure their spot for the World Cup, which takes place across the USA, Canada and Mexico in 2026. And Bielsa will hope to be in the dugout for that tournament, having received the backing of his nation’s FA chief.

Alonso also spoke recently about the claims coming from Suarez and Valverde, insisting they should not have been mentioned publicly and rather dealt with among the squad and coach. "When it comes to internal affairs management, it is to always treat them as insiders and that was managed very well," he told ESPN.

"You must always collaborate by maintaining the reserve. I saw Bielsa working as always, he is a coach very aware of the things he has in hand, hardworking like few others, meticulous, he is on top of all the details and did not have any alterations.

"There is a transition from one era to another, with a generation that enters with an incredible legacy and we bet that Marcelo [Bielsa], as a football leader, could be the ideal figure for our team. We are doing well, the team has shown interesting things.”