BBC SPORT | Football | Bielsa seeks redemption



By Tim Vickery BBC Sport Online

Argentina will look on enviously this Wednesday when Brazil celebrate their World Cup win with a friendly against Paraguay.

It is also a farewell match for coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who steps down as soon as the final whistle is blown.

He can now bask in his success, relax and move on.

Argentina's Marcelo Bielsa follows the opposite path.

His side were the pre-tournament favourites, but in Japan produced their worst World Cup for 40 years.

Luiz Felipe Scolari takes a Brazil training session
Brazil coach Scolari is quitting at the top
For Bielsa the price of failure is that he stays in charge.

In the aftermath of the World Cup, Argentina's excellent 'El Grafico' magazine ran a cover story under the title 'the war for the succession'.

Who would take over as national team coach? It might be Pekerman, it might be Bianchi?

The only certainty was that the reign of Bielsa had come to an end.

"Bielsa hasn't said goodbye but he's already gone," said the article.

"He can't carry on because his relationship with [FA president] Julio Grondona has gone beyond the point of no return."

However, within a month Grondona and Bielsa were negotiating a new contract.

Nerves in Argentina have been strained by bigger things than the World Cup disappointment.

England's 1-0 World Cup win was only the second defeat Bielsa's men had suffered in three years

There is also the country's economic collapse to take into consideration - and financial aspects had a lot to do with the fact that Bielsa is staying on.

So broke is the Argentine FA, that the coach will have to work under severe financial restrictions.

It may no longer be possible to fly an entire squad back from Europe for every match.

Scolari's successor

And the coach's salary has been drastically reduced.

Bielsa has agreed to such conditions because he feels he has unfinished business.

England's 1-0 World Cup win was only the second defeat Bielsa's men had suffered in three years - but it proved enough to bundle them out of the tournament.

Argentina's early elimination meant that scorn was poured on Bielsa's 3-3-1-3 system.

But it had helped the team to a remarkable run of success going into the competition.

Can Bielsa bounce back or has he been blown fatally off course?

Bielsa could even argue that the World Cup was a showcase for the virtues of his system.

Scolari openly admits that he copied Argentina's formation.

He spent hours watching videos of Bielsa's side when he was putting his own team together.

Formerly a disciple of 4-4-2, Scolari had a tough time convincing the Brazilian media that his team could be successful with three centre-backs.

The World Cup win seems to have ended that argument.

Bielsa, too, must now be prepared for a rough ride from his own media.

Outright hostility

When he first took over he was greeted with suspicion, which faded with all the victories of the qualification campaign.

But after the disastrous World Cup, further slip-ups will inspire outright hostility.

So now Bielsa faces his true test. Can he bounce back, or has he been blown fatally off course?

The drama will be played out in front of a nation of 38m, and could either be a tragedy or a tale of redemption.


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