WOW.
Marcelo Bielsa is 70 years of age, and his parting message to Uruguay carries a lesson every coach should sit with.
No group is the same.
No individual is the same.
Nobody.
Bielsa admits he has never tried to be the โfriendlyโ coach. He values order, discipline, seriousness, obsession. That has made him one of the most respected minds in football.
But even Bielsa seems to accept something powerful here:
That approach does not work for every player.
It does not work in every environment.
And knowledge alone is never enough.
As a coach, you have to find a way to connect.
Quote us on this:
โYou can have all the knowledge in the world, but it is absolutely useless if the people playing donโt like you.
Player management and people management might not be on coaching courses, but donโt be kidded by associations.
It is the most important quality a coach can have.โ
Football is about tactics, detail, preparation and standards.
But above all, it is about people. So many coaches out there fail to grasp this, they think they can shout their way to development or success, and this day and age you simply can't.
Not talked about enough is that we finally got the Waldo kit remix after over a decade of asking and weโre now unlocking our full USMNT ๐บ๐ธ potential.
18-year-old Ayyoub Bouaddi in his WC debut vs Brazil:
-91% pass accuracy (60/66)
-100% pass accuracy in the final third (16/16)
-6 ball recoveries
-5 interceptions
-9 duels won
A star is born ๐ซ