Bielsa doing Bielsa things at the World Cup

Imagine being the photographer and realising the manager has gone full anti glamour mode before youve even started, fifa probably had a meltdown and the players are just stood there trying not to laugh, absolute scenes
 
I get why people are laughing and making it into a little anti FIFA moment, but there is also a tendency to turn Bielsa into a cartoon saint and that misses the point completely because the man has spent years building teams, demanding ridiculous standards, and putting football first in a way that is rare now, and if some people think he is odd or difficult then fine, that does not change the fact that he has always stood for something bigger than a PR image and that should count for more than a photo pose
 
It is a symbolic gesture, but it is consistent with his career. Bielsa has always seemed uncomfortable with football being treated like a branding exercise.
 
The funny part is that the gesture probably says more about FIFA than it does about him. If a manager looking at the floor becomes the biggest talking point, that tells you how hollow the ceremony probably feels to people who actually care about the sport, and Bielsa has always been one of those people
 
On one level it is just a photo shoot and people are reading a lot into a man looking down, but on another level it is exactly the kind of thing that makes Bielsa so fascinating because he seems incapable of separating football from principle, and even when the gesture is tiny it lands because everyone already knows the sort of person he is. That said, the whole modern football circus is exhausting and it is hard not to enjoy anyone who looks like they are refusing to play along, because the amount of empty ceremony around the game is ridiculous and half the time you feel like the actual football is just the excuse for a massive marketing machine, and honestly good on him for making it awkward for them
 
I watched this and immediately thought yeah that is exactly him, no surprise at all, and it made me miss the whole Bielsa era all over again because he just had a way of making every little thing feel important even when it was weird or awkward and the game feels a bit dull without characters like that
 
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