Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay beat Cuba 2-0 in a friendly in Montevideo on Tuesday, but did not repeat all the good things they showed last week against Nicaragua. For his second game at the helm of Celeste, the Argentine coach started only one of the players who participated in the 4-1 victory over Nicaragua on Wednesday June 14, striker Maximiliano Araujo, author of the 2nd goal against Cuba (80th).
The former coach of Marseille, Lille or Leeds, ex-coach of Argentina and Chile, continues to test his new players for the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup which begin in September. And this without key players, at rest for these two friends, like Federico Valverde (Real Madrid), Darwin Núñez (Liverpool) or Rodrigo Bentancur (Tottenham). “We missed a better construction” of the game against Cuba, Bielsa said at a press conference. “We had imagined a bigger difference, in the game and in the result”.
Before his goal at the end of the match, Araujo had obtained a penalty, converted by Facundo Torres for the opener (27th). But at the Centenario stadium, the discussions focused more on the possible early retirement of Luis Suarez (36), top scorer in the history of Celeste (137 caps, 68 goals) and under contract with the Brazilian club Gremio Porto Alegre.
