Marcelo Bielsa says Uruguay’s team is already set for Sunday’s match against Cabo Verde at 19 hours, and the players already know it. The coach made the point at a press conference before the World Cup game, a rare public confirmation that leaves little doubt about the shape of the side he plans to use.
That matters because the search around Maximiliano Araújo is really about selection, not speculation: Uruguay is days from kickoff, and the coach is no longer hiding behind generalities. Bielsa said the team’s chemistry is built through victories and that the mood inside a group can be decisive, which is his way of framing a match that now has a fixed starting point.
The strongest clue came when he turned to Federico Valverde. Bielsa said Valverde has played several matches as a right winger and stood out greatly, adding that the more often he is in contact with the ball, the more he influences the team. He also suggested that placing him on the right may have reduced the number of his receptions against Arabia, even if he can still decide a match with few touches.
Bielsa also resisted giving away more than he wanted. He said he prefers to give the formation to the players rather than announce it publicly, recalling that when he once revealed it in Bilbao while at Athletic, he was criticized for handing information to the opponent too early. That explains why he was willing to say the side is defined without spelling out every name in public.
And yet one gap remains. Bielsa drew a clear line between Nicolás de la Cruz and Manuel Ugarte, describing one as a holding midfielder and the other as a mixed and offensive midfielder. Ugarte, he said, is modern, fast and aggressive in recovering balls; De la Cruz is creative, dynamic and capable of shooting from distance. That distinction points to the final piece still being weighed, even after the coach insisted the group already knows the answer.
For Cabo Verde, Bielsa said Uruguay will need an agile, offensive and dynamic possession game, with associated play and good positioning to break a compact defense. He also brushed aside any need to motivate Darwin Núñez, saying a player who takes part in a World Cup does not require that kind of push. The lineup may be defined, but the one detail the coach still leaves hanging is whether De la Cruz or Ugarte takes that final place in the midfield structure on Sunday.
