SIMON’S TRIP TO URUGUAY
Simon with Jorge Giordano (Technical Director of Uruguayan FA) and Andy Gray
I first set foot in South America 28 years ago this summer gone. As I was a teacher at the time, I was there for a whole six week summer holidays, and went back a few times after that, learning, researching and growing.
But earlier this year was my first visit in a while, this time heading to Uruguay, where I was very kindly allowed into national team training for the week by Marcelo Bielsa and my friend Diego Reyes, who's been Marcelo's assistant for 16 years. I have had experience of Marcelo's work from the professional players I support at Leeds United and from the friendship with Diego that's grown over the years, and also have got an idea of Marcelo through reading various books. However, to be with him for a week and to be there in La Casa de La Celeste was just incredible from morning till night, even sometimes for double sessions with the team. Learning from all of that was an extraordinary experience.
Over the course of the week I took more notes than I've ever made before. One of Marcelo's staff at one point said "you've got enough for a book". It was an unbelievable experience to see the detail of Marcelo's philosophy and to witness it in practice. It was something I'll treasure for all my coaching life.
Aside from that, I went off into Uruguay itself in between national team sessions, so I had a very full schedule. The Uruguay Football Federation National Team Director Jorge Guardiano provided me with a fantastic person, Gaston, to both translate and drive me around. It opened every door for me in Uruguay. I went to Defensor, one of the most successful clubs in the world for producing talent - being ranked in the top 6 for this worldwide - and also went to Montevideo City Torque. We visited all age groups, from U20s down to U11s, which is the youngest they are taken there. It was really interesting to visit the club, who are part of the City Group. My friend Brian Marwood is behind all of the City Group clubs overseas, and you could see how it was very much following the City model and structure.
For a country of around 3.5 million population, Uruguay has an unbelievable record and I was interested to explore why this has been the case: why has there been such success here and how such great players are developed? World class players such as Suarez, Cavani, Godin and more all hail from this small South American country. Although he did have some problems, I very much like Suarez as a player. He combined both sides of the game; the savage and the beauty. Twenty years ago, I would say to people in my talks and lectures that football is going to change. It's going to be not players who can just attack or players who defend, but you'd have to be able to do both and play multiple positions. I also spoke about how the body type of a footballer would change; it would no longer be the squat bow legged type, but a lot more athletic, possibly resembling a middle distance runner, which is what it has become. Suarez at his physical peak when at Liverpool was a great example of this.
Whilst we didn't have the word transition in those days, I took turnover from rugby. I used to say the turnover is going to be the key thing. How quickly you switch from one mentality to another, almost one type of person as a warrior off the ball, but then an artist on it. Switching between those two very quick would be the key. Suarez could do that on the pitch.
So I wanted to explore the land of Suarez, these other players and early World Cup winners. A big thing that came out of it to me and talking with others was Baby Football; a type of seven-a-side/small sided game (baby referring to the the size of the pitch). The key thing is that it has a large uptake, with maybe 90% of the kids who are at school playing on a weekend, so there is great participation within the 3.5 million population.
No matter where in Uruguay, they all seem to be playing Baby Football. As a game it's rough and tough. It is a stressful game really; there might be very strong challenges, with added chaos on the sidelines with parents and coaches shouting. It's sort of the opposite of what we'd have here today. And a lot of it would not in essence be good in isolation and we wouldn't have it here for a good reason, but a performance benefit is that almost everybody we saw in Uruguay says that Uruguayan players end up being very resilient and tough. They can make multiple moves abroad and settle in different environments partly because they've just got used to this idea of overcoming uncomfortability and tough environments. It can be a stressful situation for both parents and players, and we would not want to copy this wholesale, but despite its shortcomings, there are positives we can take from it.
Simon pictured in the very first gym in which futsal was played.
It was amazing to go to the first gym where futsal was played. I couldn't believe it; it was one of the best moments of my sporting life to walk into that 'gym one' as it is known. I didn't know the building itself was even still going to be there, so was quite surprised when we found it and that the court still existed. To be able to see a piece of the original court flooring was an incredibly special moment for me after the work I did in bringing futsal to the English speaking countries.
Simon with a piece of the original flooring from ‘gym one’.
One of the most fascinating men I met was a man called Luis Matosas Postiglione, who was the Head of Coaching for Amateur Football for the whole of Uruguay. Because they don't have academies at ages 10 and below, the grassroots set up is run by Luis and his team at Organizacion del Futbol del Interior. In England where if you get in an Academy, you stop playing grassroots, in Uruguay the grassroots scene continues. There are maybe some lessons to learn from the importance that is placed on grassroots football in Uruguay in terms of development. Luis was such a fantastic person and totally knew football inside out. He explained to me that you get different styles in Uruguay: in the centre, closer to major cities like Montevideo, the style can be very 'Scottish' he said, due to the Scottish rail workers that moved to Uruguay to help build the infrastructure. In other parts, closer to the Brazilian border, they play more with a Brazilian style. Another part of the country can be seen to be more Argentinian in style. He said if you watch a player from Uruguay, you can tell what part of the country they are from by their football style, which I thought was fascinating. I'm going to see if we can keep a dialogue with him and hopefully be able to visit him again.
A massive thank you must go to the Uruguayan people, who I loved. Such welcoming, passionate, open and friendly people. To my friend Andy Gray who joined me for part of the trip; visiting some of these places with Andy, made it extra special. Also of course to Diego and Marcelo for having me with the national team, and to Diego for getting me in touch with Jorge and opening the doors everywhere I went with the wonderful help of Gaston.
It was one of the best learning experiences of my life.
Thank you and Vamos Uruguay!