Meet the lion at Russia 2018: Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez

The most inspiring figure at the World Cup did not kick a single ball. He is 71 and gets around on a crutch. At times, even a wheelchair. Oscar Tabarez, manager of the swaggering Uruguay team, won universal admiration as he marshalled his players from the dugout, leaning on a walking cane for support. A lion in winter. But a lion.

Tabarez calls his condition chronic neuropathy. Many reports, however, say that the former defender and school teacher suffers from Guillain-Barre syndrome, where the body’s immune system attacks its nerves. Tabarez denies this, although he has been frank about his health in general. In 2013, he had spine surgery. And during qualification for the 2014 World Cup, he said he was reduced to tears by the pain of a routine activity like climbing stairs. But he carried on and was there on the touchline at Brazil 2014. And at Russia 2018.

The credo of Uruguayan football — blood and guts, against all odds — is epitomised by the granite-faced Tabarez. True to Latin American tradition, they have a name for the mentality — la garra charrua (Charruan tenacity. Charruans were natives to Uruguay and parts of Argentina).


“There are some days where I can move on my own, some others no. Still, nothing changes with my job, or dealing with players,” he said about his ailment in an interview. The pain Tabarez felt around the time of his surgery has gone. But there are other challenges. “I don’t experience any type of pain,” he said. “The neuropathy causes me motor problems, especially when walking. I’m using just one stick, but when the ground is more or less solid, I don’t use any.”

Courage in the face of physical adversity is not the primary reason Tabarez commands respect. He wouldn’t want it that way. He gets respect first and foremost for his body of work. Under him Uruguay reached the 2010 World Cup semis and won the 2011 Copa America. This year, they knocked out Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal.


Tabarez was also named South American coach of the year on two successive occasions — in 2010 and 2011. And he is credited for putting in place a solid player development system in the country.

Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera holds Tabarez, nicknamed The Teacher, in high esteem. A few weeks ago, he said, “What The Teacher achieved in this time is very big because he started totally from scratch. He has created everything we achieved and what is yet to come. If Uruguay is this respected worldwide it is because he made it.”

Tabarez has put up a line by Che Guevara in his home in Montevideo —“You must toughen yourself without losing tenderness.” Both qualities were apparent in Uruguay’s campaign in Russia.

If there was an honour for a coach at the World Cup, we may very well have heard the words, “And the award goes to Oscar.”