Cape Verde coach criticizes Marcelo Bielsa for not playing well after Uruguay’s controversial equalizer

Cape Verde’s coach, Bubista, praised the courage of his players – he also hit out at Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa – after the 2-2 draw, which made both teams continue to hunt for a place in the World Cup of 32.

A game that featured several swings of momentum saw Cape Verde take the lead with Kevin Pina’s free-kick through goals from Maxi Araujo and Agustin Canobbio which put the South Americans ahead at the break.

Cape Verde summoned the inner strength that earned them a draw in the opening round against Spain and bounced back to claim another point thanks to Helio Varela just after the hour mark.

“I want to congratulate the team and all our people for the way we played, with our hearts,” said Bubista.

“We finished the game under great difficulty, many players were already suffering from cramps. But our team was brave all the time, always looking to win the game, and that makes us very happy. We trust all our players. We always make changes, and our team continues to face the games with the desire to win and good organization. We should be happy with what we achieved today.”

Cape Verde manager Bubista accuses Bielsa of hypocrisy behind top scorer Araujo

Bubista was less than impressed with Bielsa, whose equalizer came in controversial circumstances.

Federico Vinas from Uruguay was helping Telmo Arcanjo from Cape Verde who was suffering from cramps, lifting the player’s leg to stretch his calf muscle, but he dropped it when he saw that his own were attacking.

A sloppy Cape Verdean side could not stop Uruguay as Araujo scored after Sidny Cabral headed in his own ball.

Bielsa has always preached the values ​​of fair play and once allowed Aston Villa to score an undisputed goal when he was Leeds manager.

“That pissed me off – because Bielsa taught us to play the right way,” he said. “That is in his conferences with the media, that is in the matches played by his teams.

“It was frustrating, but that’s part of the game and the experience of growing up with the team.

“We could have done something to prevent that situation, we could have kicked the ball out of the field, but we are trying to do things our way.

“It is also natural that the players sometimes feel pressure and we can say the same about the Uruguayan team. We can grow from what happened.”

Cape Verde’s prospects are promising but Uruguay will face them

Cape Verde and Uruguay both have two points from two games. Cape Verde will face Saudi Arabia in the last unbeaten match and Uruguay must face the European champions, Spain, who defeated the Saudis 4-0 yesterday.

“We have two equal games that we could have won. Undoubtedly, we deserved to win the game against Saudi Arabia and today we should have won it,” said Bielsa. “Even with the goals we conceded, we should have won.

“When we defended the game well, it allowed us to go forward, and when we lost control of the game, that lead was reduced compared to our opponents. The most important thing about the result is that we gave up our momentum, and that should not have happened.

“In my opinion, we need to play against Spain. We have a need and we have a responsibility to win it. It is a big challenge for all of us.”