Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and Unión de Santa Fe spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Defensa y Justicia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damián Fernández 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: David Barbona. 1‑0 against Unión de Santa Fe, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I watch every Defensa y Justicia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Londrina runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Tona was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
32 appearances at Dorados and the goals have stopped going in. Tijuana lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tijuana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tijuana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Tijuana. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
SquadGilberto Mora is the talk of the training ground
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Juan Manuel Gutiérrez 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 Braian Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to Floresta to sit and watch. I want to come back to Defensa y Justicia and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 18 matches say the rest.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Facundo Correa after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Defensa y Justicia told Enzo Copetti something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
César Pérez 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 Damián Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Defensa y Justicia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Tianjin Jinmen Tiger runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Facundo Correa after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Gastón Togni is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Braian Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Ezequiel Cannavo in the middle of it, and Vélez unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
“I watch every Defensa y Justicia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Londrina runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
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.” Facundo Correa kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Something was said to Julián López and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Defensa y Justicia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
César Pérez 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.
7 goals in one match, David Barbona on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Defensa y Justicia and Instituto.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Braian Aguirre is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Defensa y Justicia, and 0 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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 3‑4 Facundo Correa left the room before anybody could ask which.
4 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Enzo Copetti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Defensa y Justicia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Defensa y Justicia can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Antofagasta for Tomás Villagra 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.
Defensa y Justicia have gone to Unión de Santa Fe with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Braian Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. River Plate have kept their man, and Defensa y Justicia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Defensa y Justicia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Defensa y Justicia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Domingo Blanco has written the date down.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Agustín Hausch signs something — a contract at Defensa y Justicia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fernando Román will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Defensa y Justicia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Defensa y Justicia 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 Damián Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Defensa y Justicia, another week without a signature from César Pérez.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Facundo Correa after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Something was said to Fernando Román and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.