Marked for Mauro Valiente
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
4 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Ramón Ábila 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 Estudiantes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Estudiantes
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Estudiantes can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Estudiantes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Alanís 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Mateo Bajamich
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
Alejandro Cabrera 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Gabriel Alanís 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Gabriel Alanís
“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
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Estudiantes may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market28 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Estudiantes can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Gabriel Alanís 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 terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ezequiel Forclaz 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 Sep 2026
Words at Estudiantes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonzalo Maffini 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
7.21, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Estudiantes had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Sep 2026
8 matches without a win for Estudiantes
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Estudiantes are no longer polite ones.
Market14 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Estudiantes can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ramón Ábila 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 Estudiantes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Estudiantes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Alanís 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I watch every Estudiantes game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kasimpasa runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. 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
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Estudiantes can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ramón Ábila 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 Estudiantes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
Hapoel Tel Aviv pay $600.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Estudiantes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Alanís 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
A conversation is coming this week. Estudiantes will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tomás González and Estudiantes agree another 3 years.
Market10 Aug 2026
48 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tomás González, and the manager let it.
Match8 Aug 2026
Point won or two lost for Estudiantes?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Argentinos Juniors? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.