Position 20 and 34 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Dock Sud, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dock Sud this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Dock Sud training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Heredia 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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Dock Sud know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Iván Ramírez will call it something else in private.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
In brief
The dugoutFrancisco Gómez has become a man the manager trusts
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Los Andes waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Alvarado is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Two goals and a mark of 8.05 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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.
Everything agreed with Central Norte, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Gimnasia y Tiro made Alvarado work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad28 Jun 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.
“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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Alvarado have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Alvarado had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ferro Carril Oeste, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian Gorgerino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 15 and 12 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.
Matías Mansilla 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.
Squad17 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
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 Luis Quiroga to a room that had heard them before.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Alvarado has been clear about where Matías Mela stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 May 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.
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.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Madryn scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Tomás Berra has his answer from Alvarado; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
The dugoutLucas Chiozza asks for a word with the manager
Matías Mansilla 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 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.
“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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Luis Quiroga chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Patronato? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Benito Paklayan's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Matías Mansilla 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.
Alvarado asked and Sarmiento said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lautaro Núñez signs something — a contract at Alvarado or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutTomás Berra knocks on the manager's door
The words a physio says slowly. 15 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Madryn is saying, and nobody at Alvarado is enjoying the guessing.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Chiozza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Alvarado have made the call to Gimnasia y Esgrima. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
23 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Alvarado have done the hard part with Tigre, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Marco Miori has left for Gimnasia La Plata in a $190.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad14 Dec 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Alvarado, another week without a signature from Ramiro Makarte.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Alvarado could ask drops and the wages Lucas Monzón can ask rise.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Benito Paklayan's mistake
30 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.
“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.
Everything agreed with Gimnasia y Esgrima, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Matías Mansilla 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 Dec 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.
37 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.
“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.
Matías Mansilla 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
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.
45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alvarado lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomás Federico was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
52 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian Gorgerino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Alvarado could ask drops and the wages Lucas Monzón can ask rise.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Alvarado that is a harder question to answer.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ramiro Makarte signs something — a contract at Alvarado or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alvarado lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Matías Mansilla 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.
Squad9 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.
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.
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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Alvarado that is a harder question to answer.
67 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.
Matías Mansilla 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.
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
Words at Alvarado training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Federico 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.
“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.
74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alvarado lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
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.
16 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.
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alvarado lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
1‑4 to All Boys, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Chiozza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Luis Quiroga after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
88 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.
Matías Mansilla 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Chiozza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Diego Rojas has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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.
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 Alan Palavecino is on it.
95 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.
Matías Mansilla 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian Gorgerino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Everybody at Alvarado saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Almagro defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
102 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Agustín Zapata will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alvarado the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
7.78, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Alvarado had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad28 Sep 2026
16 new faces, and Alvarado are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
110 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Chiozza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Luis Quiroga to a room that had heard them before.
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.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Alvarado could ask drops and the wages Lucas Monzón can ask rise.
118 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alvarado lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Matías Mansilla 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 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Racing scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Alvarado, another week without a signature from Marco Miori.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The words a physio says slowly. 125 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Agustín Zapata 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.
Matías Mansilla 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Nobody at Alvarado will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Germán Cervera. 3‑1 against Güemes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian Gorgerino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Luis Quiroga kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Alvarado have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Nobody at Alvarado is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
In brief
The dugoutBenito Paklayan is still being punished for one mistake
2‑3 against Deportivo Laferrere, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Matías Mansilla 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Ramiro Contreras 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.
10 combined actions and 6.66. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Luis Quiroga left the room before anybody could ask which.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Valentín Russo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Juan Manuel Benítez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Joaquín Costa has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Liam Arias has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Chiozza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Matías Mansilla 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 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Still no offer on the table, and Matías Mansilla’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
16 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.