Ground Report

<p>Marcelo Bielsa walked away three years ago doing something that Bilardo and Menotti couldn’t do- win Olympic gold.</p>
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<p>According to reports coming from Santiago, Marcelo Bielsa wll be the next coach of Chile for the upcoming 2010 World Cup qualifiers.&nbsp; Even though his relationship with the Argentine media and fans was strained- for lack of a better term- he did leave the squad with a &quot;what might have been&quot;state of mind.&nbsp; What would never be forgiven was his omission of Juan Rom&aacute;n Riquelme from the 2002 World Cup squad and his stubbornness to no play Gabriel Batistuta and Hern&aacute;n Crespo at the same time.&nbsp;</p>
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<p>He now has a golden opportunity to make things right with neighboring Chile as he replaces Nelson Acosta who stepped down after the Copa Am&eacute;rica &quot;Hotelgate&quot;.&nbsp;</p>
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<p>Bielsa became the third option for the job as both Colo Colo coach Claudio Borghi and U-20 boss Jos&eacute; Sulantay said no to Harold Mayne-Nicholls.&nbsp; Other coaches were considered such as Cacique’s ‘ Jos&eacute; Ben&iacute;tez, O’Higgins’ Jorge Garces and Corinthians’&nbsp; Paulo C&eacute;sar Carpegiani.&nbsp; Bielsa still had more consensus appeal over those candidates.</p>
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<p>Bielsa will ironically open against his former team at the Monumental in October.&nbsp; It will be a great situation to go into as this is one of the youngest squads in the region, and he will inherit one of the most talented generations to have been produced in the South American nation.&nbsp; He will have a great talent pool to draw from, especially from the U-20 squad that ended up in third place in the recent World Cup.</p>
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<p>Bielsa arrived in Santiago last night from Asunci&oacute;n, and should be signing a contract later on today.&nbsp;</p>