Marked for Caio Vidal
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Jul 2036
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Independiente people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad21 Jul 2036
54 days out for Daniel Godoy after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Independiente will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market21 Jul 2036
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Santino López García reports back to Independiente with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Market21 Jul 2036
“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.
Loan watch21 Jul 2036
Iván González’s loan is measured in nothing happening
21 clean sheets from 30 appearances at Villa San Carlos. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
The dugout21 Jul 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Independiente may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom21 Jul 2036
Independiente close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2036
Gimnasia La Plata wanted more than $1.5M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad21 Jul 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Independiente this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Dec 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Temperley waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Independiente is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market24 Dec 2035
The bid was some way short and Independiente did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The dugout24 Dec 2035
Caio Vidal: 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.” Independiente have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market24 Dec 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Independiente is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Nicolás Barros Schelotto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Dec 2035
$99.0K on the table at Estudiantes. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets24 Dec 2035
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Loan watch24 Dec 2035
34 appearances at UAI Urquiza and the goals keep coming. Independiente are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Quintana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Oct 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Precious Ogbeiwi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Independiente the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Diego Tarzia 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.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thiago Pérez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Oct 2035
Caio Vidal gets it from the manager
“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.
The dugout15 Oct 2035
Joel Orlando gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Joel Orlando is on it.
Market15 Oct 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Independiente, another week without a signature from Nicolás Goldstein.
Market15 Oct 2035
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Independiente could ask drops and the wages Camilo Rey Domenech can ask rise.
Market15 Oct 2035
The name of Santiago Salle keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Independiente say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout15 Oct 2035
The manager has not finished forgetting Facundo Sanchez's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Sep 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Independiente is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Diego Tarzia 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.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Thiago Pérez 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.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
“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.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
The manager has not finished forgetting Facundo Quintana's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Market10 Sep 2035
“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.
Market10 Sep 2035
The name of Santiago Salle keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Independiente say nothing, which says plenty.
Market10 Sep 2035
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Independiente could ask drops and the wages Camilo Rey Domenech can ask rise.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Cucho Hernández is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market16 Jul 2035
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Independiente have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market16 Jul 2035
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout16 Jul 2035
Caio Vidal: 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.” Independiente have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market16 Jul 2035
“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 Independiente, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market16 Jul 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Independiente is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Jul 2035
Diego Tarzia 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.
Boardroom16 Jul 2035
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Camilo Rey Domenech has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2035
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout16 Jul 2035
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
Triumph
Match30 May 2035
3‑0 settles it, and a club that spent a season earning the right to play these games has won one of them. Somebody else's season ended tonight, which is the part nobody mentions in the celebrations.
Player ratings4 Jun 2035
A brace, and Caio Vidal takes the afternoon — 8.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Caio Vidal provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market4 Jun 2035
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market4 Jun 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Independiente is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market4 Jun 2035
“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 Independiente, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout4 Jun 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Independiente may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match30 May 2035
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market4 Jun 2035
The name of Tiago Cravero has come up in conversations Independiente were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad4 Jun 2035
Diego Tarzia 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 Independiente this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout2 Apr 2035
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market2 Apr 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Independiente can pretend not to have heard.
Market2 Apr 2035
Arsene Mekila has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Independiente they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Diego Tarzia 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 dugout2 Apr 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Caio Vidal, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Ibáñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Apr 2035
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Independiente know it.
The dugout2 Apr 2035
Something was said to Thiago Pérez and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Ramiro Buratti named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ramiro Buratti is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Mar 2035
Only the photograph left for Joaquín Ibáñez
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joaquín Ibáñez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Independiente the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom12 Mar 2035
Still no name above the door at Independiente
Day 39 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Diego Tarzia 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 Independiente this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Ibáñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Mar 2035
The formation has left Caio Vidal behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Independiente will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market12 Mar 2035
“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.
Squad12 Mar 2035
11 new faces, and Independiente are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Player ratings12 Mar 2035
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.04 on the card, and the Independiente support went home talking about one name.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.