Tribal Football

Uruguay coach Bielsa: Football is DYING; it's less and less attractive

Uruguay coach Bielsa: Football is DYING; it's less and less attractive
Uruguay coach Bielsa: Football is DYING; it's less and less attractive
Uruguay coach Bielsa: Football is DYING; it's less and less attractiveAction Plus
Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa has declared football is DYING.

Bielsa has guided Uruguay to the Copa America semifinals after a shock victory over Brazil.

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But the former Leeds and Athletic Bilbao coach is unimpressed by the quality of the tournament and the standard of players and teams.

He lamented: "I am sure that football is in a process of decline, that is to say that more and more people are watching football, but it is becoming less and less attractive because what made it game the best game in the world is not there.

"If you let a lot of people watch football, but you don't protect the pleasure of what they watch, that favours business, because the business is that a lot of people watch football."

On video refereeing, the Argentine continued: “For me it does a lot of harm to football. This sport has a particularity: when it becomes completely predictable, it loses its appeal . A

"As time passes, as fewer and fewer footballers are worth watching and as the game produced is less and less enjoyable, this artificial increase in the number of spectators will be interrupted.

"Football is not five minutes of action, it is much more than that. It is a cultural expression, a form of identification. Tell an Uruguayan to watch the highlights of the Celeste… There will be more and more, but it has nothing to do with the essence that allowed a population to fall in love with the most identifying sign significant that a people possess.

"What we should all do is ignore this scenario that is presented to us where controversy, discussion, accusation, the determination of responsibility, become an obsession that deteriorates the climate in which football must be played."