Marked for Facundo Vila
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Estudiantes's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Estudiantes has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Federico Sena: 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.” Estudiantes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Delfor Minervino 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
1‑3 to Defensores Unidos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Brian Farioli 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 ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A mistake Facundo Vila will not forget
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
Ian Vera wants to come home
“I did not go to ABC to sit and watch. I want to come back to Estudiantes and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout23 Nov 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomás Squie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Tomás Blanco 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 Tomás Blanco is on it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Estudiantes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes Jorge Correa a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Estudiantes. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market23 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Estudiantes know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Franco Fagúndez has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Loan watch23 Nov 2026
9 starts now, an average of 6.51, and the team sheet at Sambenedettese has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match9 Sep 2026
Estudiantes go through and Estudiantes go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.68 for the rest of it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Tomás Squie beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Delfor Minervino 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Federico Sena 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.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Enzo Acosta
“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
Upbeat
Squad7 Sep 2026
Delfor Minervino 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tomás Blanco commits to Estudiantes for another 4 years.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Jorge Benítez
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Franco Fagúndez 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Franco Fagúndez is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Rodrigo Melo 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 Estudiantes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Brian Farioli has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Estudiantes will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market7 Sep 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market7 Sep 2026
The shop window has Facundo Vila in it
Estudiantes have let the market know Facundo Vila can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.