Marked for Jonathan Bay
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for San Miguel
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around San Miguel are no longer polite ones.
Match29 Aug 2026
San Miguel are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jonathan Bay, and the manager let it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Agustín Desimone 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 Aug 2026
David Muller finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. San Miguel have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Off the bench and decisive: David Muller
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. San Miguel were going nowhere until he came on.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match15 Aug 2026
A 2-goal lead gone for San Miguel
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. All Boys kept coming because nothing stopped them, and San Miguel will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Cherno More for Jorge Ferrero 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Jonathan Bay 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 San Miguel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at San Miguel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Juárez 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 Aug 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 ratings17 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.78 on the card, and the San Miguel support went home talking about one name.
Match15 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad17 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Jorge Ferrero again, and this time the name on the line is Cherno More. San Miguel are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Jonathan Bay 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 San Miguel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Aug 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Bruno Nasta’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to San Miguel.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tomás Álvarez Castillo and San Miguel agree another 3 years.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Máximo Oses 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Felipe Coronel, and the manager let it.
Market10 Aug 2026
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Bruno Nasta again, and this time the name on the line is Arsenal Tula. San Miguel are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
328 appearances across 8 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and San Miguel know what they have.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bruno Nasta and San Miguel agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Jonathan Bay 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Daniel Juárez 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 ratings3 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market3 Aug 2026
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.