Marked for Joel Sacks
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Nov 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at Plaza Colonia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Lucas Carrizo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Segundo Pachamé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Kevin Morgan
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Facundo Píriz gets picked when it counts
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 Facundo Píriz is on it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Facundo Píriz knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Facundo Píriz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Lucas Carrizo 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
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.
Market23 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Plaza Colonia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Facundo Píriz knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Plaza Colonia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Questions about Valentín Amoroso on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Lucas Carrizo 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Pablo García
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Plaza Colonia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Máximo Lorenzi 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
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 Diego Villalba is on it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager plants his flag on Joel Sacks
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Joel Sacks’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Plaza Colonia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Plaza Colonia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Plaza Colonia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Otegui 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Facundo Píriz
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Lucas Carrizo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Plaza Colonia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Máximo Lorenzi 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Plaza Colonia
13 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Joel Sacks and Plaza Colonia agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market5 Oct 2026
Experience through the door at Plaza Colonia
Joel Sacks arrives at 37 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.