Darwin Nunez “crises” revealed as World Cup dreams in tatters

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Former Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez is not enjoying the best season of his career ahead of the 2026 World Cup this summer. Uruguay qualified for the finals with Marcelo Bielsa’s characteristic mix of intensity and tactical discipline, and back in 2023, Darwin Nunez was the man leading the charge, bagging and creating goals in a strong qualifying campaign.

El Observador’s extensive piece on the Nunez situation paints a portrait of a player in freefall at club level, with serious knock-on implications for Uruguay’s World Cup hopes. And as a result, El Observador are claiming that he could be third-choice striker and may play very little at the upcoming World Cup – if at all: “When he arrives at the World Cup, one possibility is that Darwin will continue to be, due to his sporting level, the third striker of the national team and he will not play and if he does, he will not score,” Luis Eduardo Inzaurralde reports.

When quizzed on why the former Liverpool striker did not start last Friday’s against England, Bielsa said: “He has not competed officially for 50 days.” “When a player has not competed for a long time, you have to be very careful to manage the number of minutes and the demands, because competition is an essential condiment to build form.” Given his well-documented admiration for the striker’s physical qualities, it would be a shock for the veteran Argentine coach to leave him out of his World Cup squad entirely. It’s whether a player without meaningful match sharpness can be trusted to lead the line in knockout football against the world’s best defences.