“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Artigas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Artigas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos da Rosa 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Artigas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 168% of everything Artigas earn
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Artigas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Artigas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos da Rosa 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 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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Luiz: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
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.
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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Luiz: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.34 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Artigas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emilio MacEachen 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Artigas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Santiago Vargas is living that version at Artigas, and it tends to show in the first month.
Emilio MacEachen 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Deportivo Maldonado? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.