The last match that Marcelo Bielsa managed as Chile national team coach, between 2007 and 2011, was a friendly that La Roja won against Uruguay, the same team he now leads and that this Tuesday will close out the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup at the National Stadium in Santiago, where a huge ovation is being prepared for a coach as beloved as he is missed.

The Chilean fans who on November 17, 2010, expressed their gratitude to the Argentine coach will not be able to fill those same stands this Tuesday, due to a reduction in capacity imposed by FIFA due to racist and discriminatory behavior in the last home match, against Argentina.

Bielsa's reunion with the Chilean public, 14 years after his resignation on January 6, 2011, will suddenly bring back all the memories of a coach who qualified them again for a World Cup, South Africa 2010, after having not participated in the previous two.

The Rosario native will be on the opposite side with a Uruguay team that qualified for its fifth consecutive World Cup, to face to a Chile that is once again in crisis, just like when he took over on August 10, 2007.

La Roja is tenth and last in the South American qualifying standings with 10 points and has failed to qualify for the World Cup for three consecutive times.

“In Chile it was a beautiful experience, with the players and because of the relationship they established with their fans,” Bielsa said in a press conference before leaving for Santiago.

Bielsa's story with La Roja is one of reciprocated love, because Chileans consider him the architect of the group of players that became the 'Golden Generation', who were two-time champions of the Americas in 2015 and 2016, under two other Argentine coaches: Jorge Sampaoli and Juan Antonio Pizzi.

Those footballers who had their genesis under the hand of the Chilean, creator of the youth national teams, Jose Sulantay,ended up belonging to him after he drastically and profoundly changed them.

The Chile that 'Loco' Bielsa took over came from being thrashed 1-6 by Brazil in the 2007 Copa America in Venezuela, where there was a notorious episode of indiscipline, and he turned it into a benchmark team in South American football.

He arrived under the tutelage of Harold Mayne-Nicholls, president of the National Association of Professional Football (ANFP) at the time, and today a candidate in the Chilean presidential elections next November.

The Rosario native forged a team that delighted with his style of play, which he placed in second place in the qualifiers for South Africa 2010 behind Brazil, and with which he reached the round of 16 in that global event.

“Isla, Vidal, Alexis, Aranguiz, all of them, were a bunch of barbaric players pushing to earn a place. And another group of seniors: Suazo, Matias, Bravo. Everything was very balanced and with very good internal synergy," he recalled.

His period was one of La Roja's best, with 28 wins, 8 draws, and 15 losses. These are figures supported by a game that Chileans yearn for: “It was 3 years, 5 months and 23 days,” the local press still reports.

Bielsa himself said that he considered those years “as a gift from life,” when he said goodbye to the Chileans with a letter that he wrote and read with emotion.

Last July, when La Roja commemorated the tenth anniversary of its first Copa America, there was a tribute exhibition and Chilean fans continued to remember Bielsa without having been the protagonist.

“He changed the mentality of the Chilean footballer,” Ricardo Valenzuela told EFE on that occasion and added that without a doubt he would want him back: “Yes, in any case, even if he is sitting in a wheelchair.”

A few days ago, the current coach of the Celeste acknowledged it: “I would have loved to be able to continue in that project for four more years, but well, things didn’t work out.”

By In the near future, the Chilean flag is expected to reappear at the National Stadium with a phrase dedicated 14 years ago: “Marcelo Bielsa, Chile thanks you.”