Marked for Andrej Nakov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Mar 2033
The wait goes on for Pastoreo
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.
Squad7 Mar 2033
83 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pastoreo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match5 Mar 2033
Pastoreo are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Boardroom7 Mar 2033
$262.8K from the owner keeps Pastoreo afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Match5 Mar 2033
Sportivo Carapegua left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Mar 2033
A falling-out at Pastoreo
Rubén González and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Mar 2033
Douglas Tavares 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 dugout7 Mar 2033
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout7 Mar 2033
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Jan 2033
Rubén González damages knee ligaments — 125 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 125 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.
Squad24 Jan 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pastoreo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom24 Jan 2033
The Pastoreo debt reaches $12.1M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad24 Jan 2033
Jose Peralta 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 dugout24 Jan 2033
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jorge Fernandez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout24 Jan 2033
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Pastoreo. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Jan 2033
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom3 Jan 2033
Emergency meeting at Pastoreo
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market3 Jan 2033
“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 Pastoreo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2033
Everything agreed with Guarani, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad3 Jan 2033
Words exchanged at Pastoreo
Javier Aquino 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.
Squad3 Jan 2033
A move Douglas Tavares would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Douglas Tavares is living that version at Pastoreo, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom3 Jan 2033
$347.1K from the owner keeps Pastoreo afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2033
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. River Plate have kept their man, and Pastoreo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom3 Jan 2033
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Nov 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad1 Nov 2032
A falling-out at Pastoreo
Sebastián Benítez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom1 Nov 2032
The borrowing at Pastoreo reaches $12.8M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $12.8M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout1 Nov 2032
Tiziano Morales without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Tiziano Morales was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The dugout1 Nov 2032
Daniel Rondon is still being punished for one mistake
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.
The dugout1 Nov 2032
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pastoreo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad1 Nov 2032
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Pastoreo would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market1 Nov 2032
Pastoreo have let the market know Derlis Sanabria can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Boardroom1 Nov 2032
The Pastoreo dressing room answers
Whatever was said behind that door, it worked: the pressing is back, the arguing has stopped, and the manager’s job is being defended in the only language that counts.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Aug 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pastoreo can pretend not to have heard.
Match7 Aug 2032
No end in sight to Pastoreo's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pastoreo has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad9 Aug 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pastoreo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Carlos Rueda and Pastoreo agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match7 Aug 2032
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2032
Pastoreo asked and Cerro Porteno said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout9 Aug 2032
The manager makes an example of Javier Aquino
“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.
Boardroom9 Aug 2032
Pastoreo are $13.9M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout9 Aug 2032
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Jun 2032
No end in sight to Pastoreo's wait for a win
17 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pastoreo has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces7 Jun 2032
Supporters organise against the Pastoreo board
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.
Match7 Jun 2032
Pastoreo are in real trouble now
Position 16, 7 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match5 Jun 2032
Chastening afternoon for Pastoreo
A 0‑5 beating by Resistencia was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market7 Jun 2032
“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 Pastoreo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout7 Jun 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Pastoreo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match5 Jun 2032
Pastoreo leaking at the back
6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Apr 2032
11 matches without a win for Pastoreo
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Pastoreo are no longer polite ones.
Market26 Apr 2032
“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.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Words exchanged at Pastoreo
Sebastián Benítez 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.
Boardroom26 Apr 2032
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Player ratings26 Apr 2032
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad26 Apr 2032
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
Andrej Nakov 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 dugout26 Apr 2032
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Mar 2032
“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 Pastoreo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match20 Mar 2032
7 matches without a win for Pastoreo
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Pastoreo are no longer polite ones.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Derlis Falcón 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.
Match20 Mar 2032
Fernando de la Mora left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad22 Mar 2032
A row about effort at Pastoreo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Moreno was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom22 Mar 2032
The Pastoreo debt reaches $14.8M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad22 Mar 2032
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pastoreo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout22 Mar 2032
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 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout22 Mar 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thiago Cunha, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Feb 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Tiziano Morales
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pastoreo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings23 Feb 2032
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.59, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market23 Feb 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pastoreo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Gustavo Cañizales 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.
Boardroom23 Feb 2032
Pastoreo are $14.9M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout23 Feb 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrej Nakov, and the manager let it.
Match21 Feb 2032
A 2‑2 draw with Encarnacion leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout23 Feb 2032
Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Jan 2032
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market5 Jan 2032
“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.
Boardroom5 Jan 2032
The Pastoreo board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Squad5 Jan 2032
19 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market5 Jan 2032
The shirt still fits. Gustavo Cañizales is back at Pastoreo, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Ebere Musa gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ebere Musa has just signed for Pastoreo, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom5 Jan 2032
The owner puts $390.5K into Pastoreo
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Transfer targets5 Jan 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nacional have kept their man, and Pastoreo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Words exchanged at Pastoreo
Rubén González 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market29 Dec 2031
“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.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Words exchanged at Pastoreo
Sebastián Benítez 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.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Andrej Nakov arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Andrej Nakov has, at Pastoreo, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets29 Dec 2031
Pastoreo asked and Tembetary said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom29 Dec 2031
The Pastoreo debt reaches $15.5M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Transfer targets29 Dec 2031
Nacional have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets29 Dec 2031
Guarani have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets29 Dec 2031
A loan enquiry to River Plate: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market29 Dec 2031
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.