Marked for Tomás Berra
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Sep 2028
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 6‑2 against Tskhinvali, and it could have been more.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 10.00, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.85, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Two goals and a mark of 9.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad18 Sep 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market18 Sep 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Saburtalo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Tomás Berra in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saburtalo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Sep 2028
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Saburtalo and Tskhinvali, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match16 Sep 2028
Still nobody has beaten Saburtalo
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Sep 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad11 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saburtalo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Aleksandre Mchedlidze commits to Saburtalo for another 5 years.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Tomás Berra 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Getting past Oto Goshadze has become the hardest job in the division
11 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
Match9 Sep 2028
Point won or two lost for Saburtalo?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Lokomotivi? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Marked 5.67, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Marked 5.75, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.10, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market4 Sep 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artūrs Karašausks will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Saburtalo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market4 Sep 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match2 Sep 2028
Saburtalo cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Tomás Berra 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Valerio Verdi 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.
Match2 Sep 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Valerio Verdi. 2‑1 against Sioni, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“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.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Aug 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Akhmed Ismailov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Saburtalo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Tomás Berra in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saburtalo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Saburtalo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valerio Verdi 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.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
A performance of 9.20 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The terraces28 Aug 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Davit Shengelia has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad28 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Valerio Verdi, and the manager let it.
Match26 Aug 2028
Three points for Saburtalo, 1‑0 the final word against Samtredia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Aug 2028
The phone has started ringing about Giorgi Gvasalia again, and this time the name on the line is Bologna. Saburtalo are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad21 Aug 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saburtalo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Saburtalo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Berra 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.
Match19 Aug 2028
Sapovnela made Saburtalo work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad21 Aug 2028
“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.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Ninety minutes of Valerio Verdi at his very best
Marked 8.02. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Saburtalo.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Getting past Oto Goshadze has become the hardest job in the division
9 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
Market21 Aug 2028
Everyone has stopped pretending: Chikhura will make the call about Shota Kakabadze this week. Saburtalo have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Aug 2028
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Guram Japaridze will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Saburtalo escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Market14 Aug 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Saburtalo can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.17 for the rest of it.
Match12 Aug 2028
No end in sight to Saburtalo's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Saburtalo has to find a result from somewhere.
Market14 Aug 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Saburtalo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Tomás Berra in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saburtalo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Saburtalo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valerio Verdi 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.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.53, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market14 Aug 2028
The name of Temur Qazaishvili has come up in conversations Saburtalo were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces7 Aug 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Market7 Aug 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Saburtalo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market7 Aug 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Tomás Berra 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 Aug 2028
Valerio Verdi 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Cristian Palancica and Saburtalo agree another 5 years.
Loan watch7 Aug 2028
“I did not go to Dinamo Batumi to sit and watch. I want to come back to Saburtalo and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 30 matches say the rest.
Squad7 Aug 2028
The manager makes an example of Tomás Berra
“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.
Match5 Aug 2028
0‑1 to Dinamo Batumi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Jul 2028
Saburtalo say no — this time
The offer from Samtredia for Shota Kakabadze was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market31 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Saburtalo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad31 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saburtalo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Jul 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Saburtalo did not have in the autumn.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Tomás Berra 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Valerio Verdi, and the manager let it.
Market31 Jul 2028
Everyone has stopped pretending: Guria will make the call about Beka Daraselia this week. Saburtalo have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Jul 2028
8 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Saburtalo can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market24 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Defensive actions: 25, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match22 Jul 2028
The run at home goes on for Saburtalo
11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Giorgi Gvasalia 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Cristian Palancica, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Saburtalo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Berra 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Jul 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Saburtalo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market17 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market17 Jul 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Saburtalo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Tomás Berra in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saburtalo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Saburtalo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valerio Verdi 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
“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.
Match15 Jul 2028
A 1‑0 win over Guria, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market17 Jul 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Saburtalo have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market17 Jul 2028
The clock does Artūrs Karašausks’s negotiating for him
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Saburtalo could ask drops and the wages Artūrs Karašausks can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Jul 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Saburtalo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match8 Jul 2028
No end in sight to Saburtalo's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Saburtalo has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom10 Jul 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Artūrs Karašausks has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad10 Jul 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Giorgi Gvasalia commits to Saburtalo for another 5 years.
Match8 Jul 2028
The run at home goes on for Saburtalo
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Davit Shengelia 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Saburtalo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Berra 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.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Jul 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Jul 2028
“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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Tomás Berra in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saburtalo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings3 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Saburtalo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valerio Verdi 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“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.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
Saburtalo sign 9 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Squad3 Jul 2028
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Cristian Palancica is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match1 Jul 2028
Point won or two lost for Saburtalo?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Zugdidi? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
$140.6K a year onto the Saburtalo books
A new partner, a signature and a photograph nobody will remember. It funds a fortnight of wages, which is more than most headlines on this page can say for themselves.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match21 Jun 2028
The small margins put Saburtalo out
Out, 2‑3 to Dinamo Batumi, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces26 Jun 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 32 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Market26 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Saburtalo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Tomás Berra 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
44 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match24 Jun 2028
Saburtalo make home a hard place to visit
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Valerio Verdi 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.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Marked 8.29. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Saburtalo.
Match24 Jun 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Merani leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad19 Jun 2028
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Saburtalo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market19 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dominik Kościelniak will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Saburtalo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market19 Jun 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Dominik Kościelniak has agreed terms with Lokomotivi for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Match17 Jun 2028
Whatever happens, Saburtalo do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad19 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saburtalo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market19 Jun 2028
Torpedo Kutaisi paid $270.0K and Saburtalo took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Tomás Berra 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.
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 May 2028
“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 Alvarado, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 May 2028
Germán Cervera 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.
Boardroom15 May 2028
143% of the income goes out in wages at Alvarado
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.
Squad15 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Germán Cervera
“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.
Player ratings15 May 2028
Marked 8.31 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad15 May 2028
Facundo Centurión 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.
Match13 May 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Atlanta leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The terraces15 May 2028
Everybody has an opinion about Germán Cervera
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Squad15 May 2028
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Apr 2028
The cup run ends for Alvarado
0‑0 against Rosario Central, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match22 Apr 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Alvarado did not have in the autumn.
Squad24 Apr 2028
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market24 Apr 2028
“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 Alvarado, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alvarado this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
The numbers do not look good at Alvarado
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad24 Apr 2028
“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.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Ninety minutes of Marco Miori at his very best
Marked 8.10. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Alvarado.
In brief
-
Player ratings
Nobody could get near Mateo Ostachi
-
Player ratings
The kick that got away from Tomás Berra
-
Squad
Words at Alvarado training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Apr 2028
“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.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match8 Apr 2028
Whatever happens, Alvarado do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad10 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alvarado this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Cristian Gorgerino 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.
Market10 Apr 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Facundo Centurión has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Alvarado.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Marco Miori 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 Marco Miori trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Match8 Apr 2028
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. San Martín came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Mar 2028
Marco Miori hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alvarado can pretend not to have heard.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Germán Cervera 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Alvarado training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Gorgerino 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.
Match18 Mar 2028
3 matches without a goal for Alvarado
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
197% of the income goes out in wages at Alvarado
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.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Defensive actions: 20, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Tomás Berra gets it from the manager
“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.
Match18 Mar 2028
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Almagro came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Mar 2028
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Emmanuel Gómez Riga: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match8 Mar 2028
Alvarado march on in the cup
San Martín are out and Alvarado go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market13 Mar 2028
“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 Alvarado, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad13 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alvarado this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
It was his to settle and he did not settle it. A long walk back to the halfway line, and a considerably longer week.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Alvarado training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Centurión 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.
Match11 Mar 2028
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. San Miguel will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Feb 2028
“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 Alvarado, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alvarado this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Feb 2028
It finished 3‑1, and it was Lucas Chiozza’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Alvarado.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Cristian Gorgerino 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.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
A performance of 8.82 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Marked 8.12 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alan Palavecino, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Feb 2028
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alvarado can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alvarado this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market17 Jan 2028
FC Nordsjaelland paid $120.0K and Alvarado took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Cristian Gorgerino 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.
Market17 Jan 2028
The Lucas Monzón talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Alvarado know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad17 Jan 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Alvarado, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Jan 2028
Every point is an argument now for Alvarado
Position 17 and 28 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market3 Jan 2028
“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 Alvarado, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Marco Miori is named among the best
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Alvarado will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad3 Jan 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Alvarado may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market3 Jan 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alvarado is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Emmanuel Gómez Riga 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Dec 2027
Marco Miori is named among the best
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Alvarado will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market20 Dec 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alvarado can pretend not to have heard.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Emanuel Bilbao 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Alvarado training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Gorgerino 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Marco Miori asks for a word with the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Alvarado
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Alvarado is running low.
Market29 Nov 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alvarado can pretend not to have heard.
Market29 Nov 2027
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Market29 Nov 2027
Agustín Melean has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alvarado they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Cristian Gorgerino 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.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
166% of the income goes out in wages at Alvarado
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Nov 2027
“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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Germán Cervera 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Lucas Chiozza 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Nov 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Germán Cervera
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alvarado lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Alvarado
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market1 Nov 2027
“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 Alvarado, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market1 Nov 2027
Agustín Melean has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alvarado they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad1 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alvarado this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Alvarado training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Chiozza 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Pressure builds in the Alvarado boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market4 Oct 2027
Tomás Berra hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alvarado can pretend not to have heard.
Market4 Oct 2027
Only the photograph left for Agustín Melean
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Agustín Melean will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alvarado the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alvarado this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Cristian Gorgerino 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.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Wages eat 163% of everything Alvarado earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Alvarado
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Alvarado is running low.
Market6 Sep 2027
Mateo Ostachi hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alvarado can pretend not to have heard.
Match4 Sep 2027
5 matches without a win for Alvarado
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Alvarado are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
An order from above at Alvarado: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Market6 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alvarado is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alvarado this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Cristian Gorgerino 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Wages eat 151% of everything Alvarado earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Thiago D'Archivio
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Thiago D'Archivio has come out of that comparison in the side, and Alvarado have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Aug 2027
“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 Alvarado, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match28 Aug 2027
4 matches without a win for Alvarado
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Alvarado are no longer polite ones.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Emanuel Bilbao 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.
Match28 Aug 2027
Racing left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Lucas Chiozza 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tomás Fernández, and the manager let it.
Loan watch30 Aug 2027
“I watch every Alvarado game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Frosinone runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Germán Sosa could not find anything
5.55. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alvarado can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Jul 2027
Frosinone come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Alvarado did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad26 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alvarado this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Cristian Gorgerino 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.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match24 Jul 2027
0‑2 to Almagro, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Jul 2027
Every point is an argument now for Alvarado
Position 16 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match3 Jul 2027
No end in sight to Alvarado's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Alvarado has to find a result from somewhere.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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 Alvarado, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Matías Pérez: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alvarado have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Alvarado training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Gorgerino 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lucas Chiozza, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Germán Sosa 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.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market5 Jul 2027
Ramiro Makarte is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Alvarado has been clear about where Ramiro Makarte stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Jun 2027
Alvarado are in real trouble now
Position 16, 15 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market7 Jun 2027
Tomás Berra hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alvarado can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The Alvarado board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Emanuel Bilbao 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
Lucas Chiozza 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Emanuel Bilbao
“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.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Marco Miori
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Marco Miori has come out of that comparison in the side, and Alvarado have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Match5 Jun 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad24 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Alvarado may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad24 May 2027
Emanuel Bilbao 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Alvarado training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Gorgerino 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.
Match22 May 2027
1‑2 to Atlanta, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings24 May 2027
A performance of 8.39 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom24 May 2027
Alvarado counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Alvarado now.
The terraces24 May 2027
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Player ratings24 May 2027
5.80 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Mar 2027
Defensores ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Joaquín González out for 99 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Alvarado will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 40 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alvarado have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The Alvarado board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Match6 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Alvarado's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Alvarado has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Emanuel Bilbao 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tomás Berra and Alvarado agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Joaquín González out for 106 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Alvarado will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad1 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alvarado this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Cristian Gorgerino 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.
Match27 Feb 2027
Gimnasia y Tiro left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tomás Berra, and the manager let it.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
The numbers do not look good at Alvarado
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Emanuel Bilbao 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Alvarado training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Gorgerino 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Alvarado may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Nov 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 Alvarado this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Alvarado training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Gutiérrez 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
Cristian Gorgerino 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 242% of everything Alvarado earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Lucas Chiozza 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tomás Fernández, and the manager let it.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Córdoba to sit and watch. I want to come back to Alvarado and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tomás Berra 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 Tomás Berra trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.