A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 2 de Mayo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fernando Garcete trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 2 de Mayo can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 2 de Mayo 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at 2 de Mayo has been clear about where Luciano Zúñiga stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Gustavo Dionisi'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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 2 de Mayo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 The request is on a desk at 2 de Mayo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Junior Balbuena 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 2 de Mayo 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fernando Garcete trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Alexis Cruz has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one 2 de Mayo will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The offer from Academia Puerto Cabello for Alexis Vargas 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.
2 de Mayo ran out of time with Olimpia. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Rubio Nu moved on, Fernando Cáceres reports back to 2 de Mayo, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 2 de Mayo 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sebastián Da Silva trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Everything agreed with Olimpia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at 2 de Mayo until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
2 de Mayo offered $37.0K; Nacional said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
2 de Mayo ran out of time with Olimpia. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. 2 de Mayo were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 2 de Mayo can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sportivo Trinidense waiting with a shirt. Nobody at 2 de Mayo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have shaken hands with Recoleta; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer went to Olimpia this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Nilson Camacho 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.
Nobody at 2 de Mayo 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.
14 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.
2 de Mayo asked and Libertad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nilson Camacho 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.
$20.0K on the table at Resistencia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$21.0K was the most the club would pay and Resistencia were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
In brief
Player ratingsNilson Camacho did the work nobody counts — 6.35
12 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around 2 de Mayo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Olimpia have accepted the money. What 2 de Mayo do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
2 de Mayo have gone to Guarani with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
2 de Mayo offered $570.0K; Guarani said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Pablo Enciso to a room that had heard them before.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 2 de Mayo can pretend not to have heard.
$760.0K was the most the club would pay and Olimpia were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
$380.0K on the table at Olimpia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
2 de Mayo have gone to Recoleta with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 2 de Mayo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. 2 de Mayo will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Pablo Enciso to a room that had heard them before.
10 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 2 de Mayo, and it is not being withdrawn.
2 de Mayo have gone to Olimpia with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
$570.0K on the table at Guarani. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Nilson Camacho 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 offer went to Resistencia this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 2 de Mayo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Ezequiel González again, and this time the name on the line is Angostura. 2 de Mayo are listening politely and promising nothing.
Everybody at 2 de Mayo saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. 2 de Mayo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Pablo Enciso after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. 2 de Mayo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Nilson Camacho 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.
A mark of 7.67, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout22 May 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Pablo Enciso was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the 2 de Mayo dressing room was either.
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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason 2 de Mayo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
River Plate go through and 2 de Mayo go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Position 10 and 14 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at 2 de Mayo can tell you which week it ends in.
10 combined actions and 6.43. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason 2 de Mayo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
0‑5 to Sportivo Luqueno, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“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 2 de Mayo, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 2 de Mayo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pablo Enciso after 0‑5, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
4 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fernando Garcete trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Alejandro Viniegra is on it.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. 2 de Mayo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 2 de Mayo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Position 8, 13 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pablo Enciso after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. 2 de Mayo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Edgar Villalba 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.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Pablo Enciso, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Nobody at 2 de Mayo 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 55 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 6.78, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richard Escobar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Pablo Enciso left the room before anybody could ask which.
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. 2 de Mayo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Richard Araújo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richard Escobar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
It needed Edgar Villalba to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Sportivo Luqueno, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Nobody at 2 de Mayo 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.
“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 dugout14 Feb 2028
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.” Pablo Enciso chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. 2 de Mayo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Richard Araújo 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.
2 de Mayo offered $57.0K; Sportivo Trinidense said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at 2 de Mayo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
25 points in position 8: too many to go down, too few to go anywhere. The honest description of a season like this is a shrug, and the supporters have already given it.
The words a physio says slowly. 99 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 2 de Mayo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Junior Balbuena 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.
2 de Mayo ran out of time with Nacional. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
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 Blas Medina is on it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation 2 de Mayo are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Junior Balbuena trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Mario Tajima damages knee ligaments — 123 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 123 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Richard Araújo 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 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.
Mario Tajima damages knee ligaments — 130 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 130 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Junior Balbuena and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at 2 de Mayo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fernando Román 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at 2 de Mayo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
137 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. 2 de Mayo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 2 de Mayo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Blas Medina is on it.
“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 2 de Mayo, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Nobody at 2 de Mayo 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 2 de Mayo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
They have worked together before and it did not end well. Nobody at 2 de Mayo expects the new manager to have forgotten, least of all René Rodríguez.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at 2 de Mayo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fernando Román 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at 2 de Mayo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Junior Balbuena 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richard Escobar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Junior Balbuena is on it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Marcelo Acosta 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.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
1 academy players handed senior numbers at 2 de Mayo
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ramon Martinez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Richard Araújo in the middle of it, and Tembetary unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason 2 de Mayo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 2 de Mayo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Urquiza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at 2 de Mayo has worked with Miguel Urquiza before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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 Alexis Fariña is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at 2 de Mayo. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elías Alfonso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutMiguel Urquiza back under a manager who knows him