World Cup digest: Bielsa fumes after Uruguay departure

Marcelo Bielsa has suggested that "nobody was interested" in what he transmitted after Uruguay were knocked out of the World Cup.

The 70-year-old former Leeds boss oversaw a disappointing tournament with Uruguay, who finished third in Group H but did not have enough points to squeeze into the knockout stages.

Uruguay secured just two points in their group campaign with draws to Saudi Arabia and Cape Verde before losing 1-0 to Spain.

Speaking at a press conference lasting an hour and 40 minutes, Bielsa bid a "very painful" goodbye and suggested that "nothing" he tried to transmit was "important at any level".

"What I have absolute certainty of is that nobody cares what I know," Bielsa told journalists, in quotes reported by the Athletic.

"I know when someone cares what I know. Nothing I tried to transmit was important, at any level. That was never important from my point of view. I don't see anything bad in it — other people aren’t interested in learning what I know. Case closed.

"Nobody was interested in what I transmitted, I don’t have the smallest doubt of that.

"I’ve experienced it in the same way that an engineer who lived in Australia and wanted to be a manager in Montevideo came over. I said 'OK, come over’, I told him what I know and he accepted it and is now working in Uruguayan football. He’s the only one who I remember being interested."

Bielsa concluded his mammoth press conference by acknowledging two incidents that took place during the World Cup.

For his television pictures shown before matches, Bielsa opted to look downwards during the shots and also spoke about his reaction during a post-match television interview in the aftermath of their defeat to Spain.

"I wanted to make reference to something – an apology, in inverted commas. When they took my photo for FIFA, I’m no good at posing for photos," he said.

"And the second thing I wanted to refer to was after the game against Spain, when there’s obligations with the companies who buy the rights to give a certain quantity of interviews. They manage times of anguish as if they were times of happiness.

"I reacted against the delay in the questions which I was obliged to answer and I reacted because they waited, waited and I was overcome with pain. That’s why I perhaps wasn’t as polite as I should have been."

The World Cup games have proven hugely popular with football fans across Ireland, with RTÉ's live coverage attracting strong audiences on RTÉ2, RTÉ Player and online.

From 11–28 June, FIFA World Cup matches broadcast on RTÉ Player accumulated 9.2 million streams, already surpassing the total streaming figure recorded during the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

During the same time period, FIFA World Cup matches had a total 1-minute reach of 2.9 million unique individuals on RTÉ2 and RTÉ2+1.

The standout fixture of the tournament so far was England v Croatia on 17 June, which drew an average television audience of 615,000 viewers and achieved an impressive 51% audience share on RTÉ2. The match also drew a significant audience on RTÉ Player, attracting an additional 404,000 streams, making it the most-streamed match of the tournament to date.

Other top-performing fixtures included England v Ghana, which reached an estimated 500,000 viewers and secured a 43% share on RTÉ2 with an additional 334,000 streams on RTÉ Player, while Mexico v South Africa attracted 484,000 viewers and 41% share on RTÉ2 with an additional 364,000 streams on RTÉ Player.

Matches featuring major football nations including France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and England all delivered strong audiences throughout the group stages.

On RTÉ Sport Online and on RTÉ Sport social channels, there are 23 million video views across all social platforms to date. This includes over four million views of highlights and analysis on the RTÉ Sport YouTube page.

Watch every game of the FIFA 2026 World Cup live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player with highlights on RTÉ Sport digital platforms and live blogs on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app

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