The United States defeated Uruguay to end the South American team’s six-game unbeaten streak and leave Marcelo Bielsa with more questions than answers as his side prepares for the FIFA 2026 World Cup
United States 5-1 Uruguay
This was a statement result for the U.S men’s national team, but a big blow for Uruguay. Not many would have predicted an outcome like this, but now the two-time World Cup winner has to wait until the March international window to rectify such a heavy defeat.
The managers of these two international teams are great friends from Argentina. Marcelo Bielsa is the Uruguay coach, and a man that looks up to him as a mentor; Mauricio Pochettino is in charge of the U.S.
‘Poch’ was crying out for a big win like this one, even if it had to come against his countryman. The USMNT’s last statement international victory was probably the 3-0 friendly win over Morocco in June 2022. Since then there have been many ups and downs.
Recently, under Pochettino’s watch, top players like Christian Pulisic have been missing from international action and results in North American action or international friendlies haven’t been convincing. Perhaps this emphatic win against Uruguay shows there is hope for the host nation ahead of the FIFA 2026 World Cup.
Despair For Bielsa’s Uruguay
Bielsa’s Uruguay have had a mixed time of things lately. Before this game the ‘Celeste’ was on a six-game unbeaten run. However, the first three games of that run were against the bottom three teams in South American World Cup qualifying: Venezuela, Peru and Chile.
Uruguay remained unbeaten in three international friendly matches thereafter. Bielsa’s team faced Panama, Uzbekistan and Mexico before taking on the U.S. Uruguay’s short-lived unbeaten streak wasn’t against top quality opposition.
During World Cup qualification Uruguay had other issues, like a run of nine games where the team only managed to score in two encounters. The ‘Celeste’ managed a difficult campaign with seven wins in 18, including seven draws and four defeats.
Uruguay Dreams Of World Cup Glory
Despite being a small nation of under 4 million people, Uruguay is a proud soccer nation that is dreaming of winning its first World Cup since 1950. Its fans always arrive at a major tournament dreaming of lifting the trophy because of its rich soccer heritage and past success. The closest they came in recent years was an impressive run to the semi-finals in 2010.
However after a run of just five wins in 17 matches, Uruguay, which finished fourth in South American qualifying, has not convinced anybody that it has a chance of winning this tournament, or even repeating a performance like that of 2010.
Marcelo Bielsa has one more international break in March 2026 to get his side into shape ahead of the FIFA 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada in June.