Marked for Gianfranco Lillo
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Gianfranco Lillo: 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.” Unión de Santa Fe have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Mauro Pittón 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.
Market18 Mar 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Unión de Santa Fe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Mar 2030
“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 ratings18 Mar 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.87, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match16 Mar 2030
A 1‑1 draw with Talleres leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market18 Mar 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marcelo Estigarribia signs something — a contract at Unión de Santa Fe or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
Marked 5.63, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Jan 2029
“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.
Market8 Jan 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Mauro Pittón 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 Jan 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gianfranco Lillo and Unión de Santa Fe agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market8 Jan 2029
He is 20, and nobody at Unión de Santa Fe signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad8 Jan 2029
The manager makes an example of Junior Marabel
“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
Market31 Jul 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 Mitre, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 Jul 2028
San Diego Football Club pay $3.2M, 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Defences have started doubling up on Santiago Rosales
9 goals and a season average of 7.69 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Market31 Jul 2028
Tobías Galván has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mitre they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 Mitre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.26, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match29 Jul 2028
Almirante Brown made Mitre work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Marked 8.47 — 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.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mitre is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match22 Jul 2028
No end in sight to Mitre's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mitre has to find a result from somewhere.
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 Mitre can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Tempers go at Mitre
Luciano Jachfe 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 ratings24 Jul 2028
Marked 9.13 — 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.
Match22 Jul 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad24 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.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Alan López runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 14. 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
Uneasy
Match8 Jul 2028
12 unbeaten for Mitre
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 12 matches without defeat is a foundation Mitre did not have in the autumn.
Market10 Jul 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 Mitre, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Alan López runs at them all day
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.
Market10 Jul 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mitre they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Jul 2028
8 goals and a season average of 7.64. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match8 Jul 2028
No end in sight to Mitre's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mitre has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Tempers go at Mitre
Luciano Jachfe 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 ratings10 Jul 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.22, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom10 Jul 2028
Wages eat 190% of everything Mitre 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
Market26 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gianfranco Lillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mitre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match24 Jun 2028
Still nobody has beaten Mitre
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market26 Jun 2028
Blas Videla 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 Mitre can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Mitre
Luciano Jachfe 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.
Market26 Jun 2028
Business is business: Nahuel Reyes goes
Vasco da Gama paid $510.0K and Mitre took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad26 Jun 2028
A season average of 7.56 with 6 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Marked 8.55 — 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.
Match24 Jun 2028
It needed Alan López to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Defensores, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings29 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market29 May 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gianfranco Lillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mitre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad29 May 2028
Tempers go at Mitre
Luciano Jachfe 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.
Match27 May 2028
Whatever happens, Mitre do not lose
6 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.
Player ratings29 May 2028
Marked 9.51 — 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.
Squad29 May 2028
A season average of 7.52 with 6 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match27 May 2028
It finished 2‑1, and it was Santiago Rosales’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Mitre.
Squad29 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luciano Jachfe, and the manager let it.
Squad29 May 2028
Nicolás Goitea knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mitre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 May 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.
Boardroom22 May 2028
The numbers do not look good at Mitre
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.
Market22 May 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mitre they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 May 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 Mitre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
105 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings22 May 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.64, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings22 May 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.44, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings22 May 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.34, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match20 May 2028
A 2‑2 draw with Godoy Cruz leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.