Marked for Alejandro Elduayen
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Jun 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Racing, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Jun 2029
Ezequiel López has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Racing they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
The offer went to Nacional 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words exchanged at Racing
Renzo Bacchia 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.
Market11 Jun 2029
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
Racing have gone to Progreso 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Alejandro Elduayen is living that version at Racing, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match9 Jun 2029
2‑3 to Liverpool Montevideo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Alexander Hernández 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
It is over: La Luz are relegated
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Joaquín Gottesman
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Luz lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market8 Jan 2029
“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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A falling-out at La Luz
Nahuel Albano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Bruno Scorza has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at La Luz is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
35 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
A loan enquiry to Juventud: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market8 Jan 2029
Lito are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. La Luz will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Dec 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Joaquín Gottesman
151 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Luz lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
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.
The terraces4 Dec 2028
The mood at La Luz has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market4 Dec 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Luz can pretend not to have heard.
Market4 Dec 2028
The phone has started ringing about Nahuel Suárez again, and this time the name on the line is Nacional. La Luz are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets4 Dec 2028
La Luz asked and Cerro Largo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad4 Dec 2028
A row about effort at La Luz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías de los Santos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad4 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Luz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch4 Dec 2028
“I did not go to Deportivo Maldonado to sit and watch. I want to come back to La Luz and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 18 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Nov 2028
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. La Luz lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match27 Nov 2028
La Luz sink to position 15
25 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at La Luz
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market27 Nov 2028
Nicolás Sosa hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Luz can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
This is not rotation. Germán Peralta has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at La Luz is pretending otherwise.
Market27 Nov 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around La Luz they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad27 Nov 2028
A falling-out at La Luz
Mathías Pintos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market27 Nov 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Santiago Pereira has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Oct 2028
The knee: Ramiro Méndez out for 107 days
107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. La Luz lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match30 Oct 2028
La Luz sink to position 15
25 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
Pressure builds in the La Luz boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Germán Peralta has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at La Luz is pretending otherwise.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Tempers go at La Luz
Diego Orellano 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Matías de los Santos 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.
Market30 Oct 2028
He is 20, and nobody at La Luz signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. La Luz will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
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 Elduayen is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Oct 2028
La Luz sink to position 15
25 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at La Luz
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Germán Peralta has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at La Luz is pretending otherwise.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Tempers go at La Luz
Nahuel Albano 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
A row about effort at La Luz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías de los Santos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Oct 2028
The young player of the month award goes to a 19-year-old at La Luz who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
Jonathan Baeza 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 La Luz, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
“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
Crisis
Match18 Sep 2028
La Luz finish in position 15
25 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Market18 Sep 2028
“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 La Luz, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
This is not rotation. Bruno Scorza has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at La Luz is pretending otherwise.
Match16 Sep 2028
Nacional left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Matías de los Santos 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
43 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“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.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
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
Uneasy
Match12 Jun 2028
La Luz sink to position 16
10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market12 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Luz can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at La Luz
Nahuel Albano 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.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
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.
Market12 Jun 2028
Mauricio Aquino has left for Cerro in a $11.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Match10 Jun 2028
At last: La Luz win one
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Montevideo City Torque. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at La Luz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías de los Santos 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.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
Nicolás Sosa 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 May 2028
Nahuel Suárez hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Luz can pretend not to have heard.
Market8 May 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joaquín Gottesman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around La Luz the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad8 May 2028
A falling-out at La Luz
Nahuel Albano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match6 May 2028
Juan Crisafi scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Racing, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The terraces8 May 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Alejandro Elduayen has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad8 May 2028
Matías de los Santos 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 dugout8 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Lucas Dogliotti
“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.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Marked 7.90 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, La Luz had the best player on the pitch.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
The form table has caught Pablo Gómez
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The dugout
Germán Peralta does not fit this one
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 May 2028
Luca Barreto hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Luz can pretend not to have heard.
Match29 Apr 2028
The wait goes on for La Luz
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.
Market1 May 2028
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether La Luz can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad1 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Luz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Apr 2028
La Luz leaking at the back
4 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.
Match29 Apr 2028
0‑2 to Plaza Colonia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout1 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nahuel Suárez, and the manager let it.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at La Luz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías de los Santos 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.
The dugout1 May 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 Federico Hernandez to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match17 Apr 2028
La Luz are in real trouble now
Position 16, 6 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.
Market17 Apr 2028
“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.
Match15 Apr 2028
Danubio left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at La Luz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías de los Santos 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.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Nicolás Sosa 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.
Loan watch17 Apr 2028
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at La Luz, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad17 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Luz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Jonathan Baeza asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Mar 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Facundo Fernandez
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Luz lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Tempers go at La Luz
Nahuel Albano 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
A row about effort at La Luz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Sosa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matías de los Santos, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Facundo Sosa is still paying for one afternoon at La Luz
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.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Nahuel Albano knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nahuel Albano trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
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 Elduayen is on it.
Looking ahead27 Mar 2028
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Penarol in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market27 Mar 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Facundo Sosa may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match15 Mar 2028
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Lucas Suárez obliged against Sud America. 4‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is La Luz.
Squad20 Mar 2028
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at La Luz
Nahuel Albano 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.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
A performance of 8.94 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The terraces20 Mar 2028
At 23 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.
Match18 Mar 2028
Three points for La Luz, 1‑0 the final word against River Plate in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Match15 Mar 2028
La Luz settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Sud America spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Matías de los Santos 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 dugout20 Mar 2028
Facundo Sosa 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Dec 2027
La Luz are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 47 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market6 Dec 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Luz can pretend not to have heard.
Market6 Dec 2027
Facundo Méndez has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around La Luz they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets6 Dec 2027
The deal with Liverpool Montevideo is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets6 Dec 2027
La Luz asked and Juventud said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at La Luz
Mathías Pintos 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.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
La Luz release $321.0K for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Loan watch6 Dec 2027
“I watch every La Luz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Salus runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Transfer targets6 Dec 2027
A loan move for Ignacio Molina is in the works
La Luz have made the call to Montevideo City Torque. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match8 Nov 2027
La Luz are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 47 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market8 Nov 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at La Luz is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Nov 2027
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Loan watch8 Nov 2027
“I watch every La Luz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Salus runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Bruno Scorza
“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.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Nahuel Albano asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Oct 2027
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Salus lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad11 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salus this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Junior Pastorino 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.