Vitinho and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad25 Oct 2027
César Martins falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Something was said to Luciano Villalva and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Julio Buffarini and Sampaio Corrêa agree another 2 years.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matheus Soares is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Argentino de Merlo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Andrés Ayala wants continental football; whether Argentino de Merlo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Argentino de Merlo asked and Sportivo Italiano said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Argentino de Quilmes were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The name of Lautaro Napolitano has come up in conversations Argentino de Merlo were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Cristian Medina was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nahuel Sica is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Argentino de Merlo can pretend not to have heard.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Argentino de Merlo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Alejo Tello was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Nahuel Sica falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Argentino de Merlo has been clear about where Cristian Marcial stands, which is more than many ever get.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nahuel Sica is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Julio Buffarini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout17 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Martín Martínez to a room that had heard them before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Argentino de Merlo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentino de Merlo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Argentino de Merlo will quote 17 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alan Pérez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tomás Jerez signs something — a contract at Argentino de Merlo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Argentino de Merlo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Argentino de Merlo can pretend not to have heard.
Everybody at Argentino de Merlo saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
0‑1 to Acassuso, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Nahuel Sica falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ezequiel Cohen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Argentino de Merlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Argentino de Merlo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Jonás Miszczuk is in the works
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Argentino de Merlo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Argentino de Merlo can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Cepeda is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Julio Buffarini and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nahuel Sica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Martín Martínez, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.