Uruguay’s Marcelo Bielsa sees room for improvement after 3-1 Copa America win over Panama

MIAMI GARDENS – Uruguay opened their Copa America campaign with a 3-1 Group C win over Panama on June 23, but coach Marcelo Bielsa was quick to temper expectations and said they must continue to improve.

Bielsa took charge of Uruguay in May 2023 and steered them through a transitional period in which veterans Edinson Cavani and Diego Godin both retired, with all-time leading goalscorer Luis Suarez looking set to follow suit soon.

The 15-time Copa America winners have been in excellent form over the last several months, beating both Argentina and Brazil in World Cup qualifiers.

Those results have sparked hope of a record 16th continental crown for La Celeste but Bielsa said they were taking it one game at a time.

“When it comes to Uruguay’s aspirations, we will see and build it match by match,” he said.

“My expectation is that each match will increasingly help us to improve on our level. Uruguay have players of a very good level and we need to see if I can build with those players.”

Uruguay dominated the opening 45 minutes at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami as they pressed and harried Panama, but their energy levels appeared to drop in the second half.

Panama looked likely to equalise after the break and Uruguay regained control only after Darwin Nunez’s goal in the 85th minute.

Nunez said: “We suffered a bit, but with the second goal we improved again and ended up playing well. We missed a lot of chances, a lot of plays that ended badly. But you learn from mistakes and we never gave up.”

Maximiliano Araujo opened the scoring after 16 minutes, while Matias Vina added Uruguay’s third one minute into added time. Panama’s consolation goal came three minutes later via Michael Amir Murillo.

“The first half gave us the edge over our opponents. We should have scored more,” Bielsa said.

“In the second half, there were 15 minutes when we performed very poorly.

“They dominated the ball during that time and created opportunities when we were leading by only one goal and if they had scored, it would have been complicated for us.

“We missed five goals and we scored one in the first half and then we missed five and scored two in the second half.”

Uruguay next face Bolivia in New Jersey on June 27.

Bolivia’s campaign began with a 2-0 defeat by hosts the United States at AT&T Stadium on June 23.

US captain Christian Pulisic curled in a superb early goal before teeing up a second for striker Folarin Balogun just before half-time in Arlington, Texas.

“We came out flying with a lot of intensity,” Pulisic said.

“Obviously an early goal helped us a lot, but all around a pretty dominant performance.”

Full-back Antonee Robinson added: “Getting off to a win to start with – massive for us. Build the confidence, show we’re here to win, here to play and it puts us in good stead for the next game.”

REUTERS, AFP