Marked for Junior Paredes
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Dec 2028
The knee: César Brítez out for 38 days
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Resistencia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad4 Dec 2028
71 days out for Felipe Mardones after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Resistencia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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 Resistencia can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
This is not rotation. Alfredo Cabrera has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Resistencia is pretending otherwise.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Benítez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets4 Dec 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Alexis Fernández 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.
Market4 Dec 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Resistencia, another week without a signature from Jonathan Benítez.
Transfer targets4 Dec 2028
A loan enquiry to Cerro Porteno: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match7 Nov 2028
A European night to remember for Cerro Porteno
1‑1 against Colo-Colo, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Squad13 Nov 2028
67 days out for Javier Talavera after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cerro Porteno will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“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.
Market13 Nov 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 Cerro Porteno can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Market13 Nov 2028
Only the photograph left for Junior Paredes
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Junior Paredes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cerro Porteno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Nov 2028
65 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomás Chancalay was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad13 Nov 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 Cerro Porteno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Oct 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market16 Oct 2028
Only the photograph left for Junior Paredes
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Junior Paredes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cerro Porteno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Oct 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 Cerro Porteno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Blás Riveros 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 dugout16 Oct 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.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Mateo Mendoza has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Cerro Porteno 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 dugout16 Oct 2028
Juan Salcedo 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.
Loan watch16 Oct 2028
29 appearances away from home and 7 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Loan watch16 Oct 2028
The goals keep arriving from Alcides Ávalos’s exile
7 goals in 30 games at Fernando de la Mora — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Cerro Porteno updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Sep 2028
Alan Romero 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 Cerro Porteno can pretend not to have heard.
Market18 Sep 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cerro Porteno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Manuel Roffo 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 Cerro Porteno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Tomás Chancalay 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 dugout18 Sep 2028
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.
Market18 Sep 2028
The loan was meant to give him football. 4 games and 0 goals later he is back at Cerro Porteno no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
Loan watch18 Sep 2028
30 appearances at Fernando de la Mora and the goals keep coming. Cerro Porteno are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Loan watch18 Sep 2028
20 appearances away from home and 5 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Market18 Sep 2028
Cerro Porteno have made Alexis Fariña available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match11 Sep 2028
45 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Market11 Sep 2028
Alan Romero has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cerro Porteno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market11 Sep 2028
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Manuel Roffo wants continental football; whether Cerro Porteno can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Manuel Roffo 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Tomás Chancalay 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.
Loan watch11 Sep 2028
10 clean sheets from 29 appearances at Resistencia. 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 dugout11 Sep 2028
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.
Market11 Sep 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Juan Salcedo may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Cerro Porteno will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Aug 2028
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market21 Aug 2028
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Market21 Aug 2028
Junior Paredes has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cerro Porteno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Manuel Roffo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market21 Aug 2028
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomás Chancalay was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
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.
Loan watch21 Aug 2028
28 appearances at Fernando de la Mora and the goals keep coming. Cerro Porteno are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
Juan Salcedo 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 Juan Salcedo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Jul 2028
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cerro Porteno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market31 Jul 2028
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” River Plate had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market31 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market31 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Cerro Porteno people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market31 Jul 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tobías Portillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cerro Porteno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Manuel Roffo 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 Cerro Porteno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Cerro Porteno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Blás Riveros 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 dugout31 Jul 2028
Juan Salcedo 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 watch31 Jul 2028
“I watch every Cerro Porteno game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Libertad runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Jul 2028
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cerro Porteno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market24 Jul 2028
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Match19 Jul 2028
2 de Mayo are out and Cerro Porteno go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match19 Jul 2028
Whatever happens, Cerro Porteno do not lose
14 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match19 Jul 2028
Junior Paredes wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Junior Paredes found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and 2 de Mayo went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Market24 Jul 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Deportivo Capiata waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Cerro Porteno is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match19 Jul 2028
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
Cerro Porteno close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 7 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.
Market24 Jul 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 Cerro Porteno can pretend not to have heard.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Sportivo San Lorenzo 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.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Everything agreed with Cerro Porteno, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sol de America is saying, and nobody at Sportivo San Lorenzo is enjoying the guessing.
Squad24 Jul 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 Sportivo San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Marotta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Sportivo San Lorenzo asked and Sportivo Luqueno 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 terraces24 Jul 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Nicolás Vila 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.
Match22 Jul 2028
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match22 Jul 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniel Dietze. 1‑0 against 12 de Junio, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Jul 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 Sportivo San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
The deal with Libertad 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Alexis Doldán 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.
Boardroom10 Jul 2028
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Marotta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cerro Porteno have kept their man, and Sportivo San Lorenzo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
7.76, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Sportivo San Lorenzo had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout10 Jul 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market26 Jun 2028
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Guarani had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.93 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market26 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tembetary waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Cerro Porteno is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad26 Jun 2028
A one-man rearguard from Manuel Roffo
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market26 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 Cerro Porteno can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Jun 2028
Add another name to the list: Guarani have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Manuel Roffo. The answer from Cerro Porteno has not changed — yet.
Match24 Jun 2028
Nobody wants to play Cerro Porteno right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. César Bobadilla 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Manuel Roffo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jun 2028
Daniel Dietze 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 Sportivo San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Jun 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 Sportivo San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets26 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Sportivo San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Zorrilla 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.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout26 Jun 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.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.86 on the card, and the Sportivo San Lorenzo support went home talking about one name.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Cerro Porteno 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.
In brief
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Cristian Caceres is in the works
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
A promise honoured for Johan Murillo
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match20 Dec 2027
The view from the top for Rubio Nu
58 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Transfer targets20 Dec 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Cerro Porteno is saying, and nobody at Rubio Nu is enjoying the guessing.
Squad20 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Rubio Nu
Ezequiel Bacher and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets20 Dec 2027
The offer went to 2 de Mayo 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Rubio Nu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Álvarez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets20 Dec 2027
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.
Transfer targets20 Dec 2027
Colón 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.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
Víctor Cabañas has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Rubio Nu 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 dugout20 Dec 2027
Miguel Rojas 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 Rubio Nu, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Nov 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
124 days out for Abel Luciatti after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cerro Porteno will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match1 Nov 2027
Position 2 and 44 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Manuel Roffo 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 Cerro Porteno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
A promise honoured for Jorge Morel
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Cerro Porteno told Jorge Morel something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Loan watch1 Nov 2027
“I did not go to Deportivo Santani to sit and watch. I want to come back to Cerro Porteno and fight for my place.” 12 appearances in 45 matches say the rest.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Iván Maggi, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Tomás Chancalay has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Cerro Porteno 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alan Romero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
A fracture rules Lautaro Calderón out for 57 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rubio Nu will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Giovanni Gómez: 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.” Rubio Nu have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
This is not rotation. Derlis Alegre has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Rubio Nu is pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Ezequiel Bacher 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Rubio Nu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Álvarez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Ever Cristaldo
“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
Steady
Squad27 Sep 2027
131 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cerro Porteno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Manuel Roffo 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.
Loan watch27 Sep 2027
“I watch every Cerro Porteno game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Olimpia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Loan watch27 Sep 2027
28 appearances at Sportivo Carapegua and the goals keep coming. Cerro Porteno are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Sebastián Lentinelly 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 dugout27 Sep 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.
Loan watch27 Sep 2027
19 appearances at Rubio Nu and the goals keep coming. Cerro Porteno are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Loan watch27 Sep 2027
22 appearances at Guarani de Fram and the goals have stopped going in. Cerro Porteno lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Cerro Porteno may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Alan Soñora 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.
Loan watch30 Aug 2027
29 appearances at Deportivo Capiata and the goals keep coming. Cerro Porteno are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Loan watch30 Aug 2027
“I watch every Cerro Porteno game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Olimpia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Loan watch30 Aug 2027
27 appearances away from home and 10 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad30 Aug 2027
5 new faces, and Cerro Porteno 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Sebastián Lentinelly 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 dugout30 Aug 2027
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.
Loan watch30 Aug 2027
18 appearances away from home and 5 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Aug 2027
Still nobody has beaten Rubio Nu
The unbeaten run reaches 19. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match30 Aug 2027
55 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Match28 Aug 2027
Sportivo San Lorenzo will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Rubio Nu were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Rubio Nu
Ezequiel Bacher and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Aug 2027
Rubio Nu make home a hard place to visit
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Rubio Nu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Álvarez 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 terraces30 Aug 2027
He is 22 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 dugout30 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cristhian Riveros, and the manager let it.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Marked 7.65. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Aug 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Manuel Roffo had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
Rodrigo Giménez: 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.” Cerro Porteno have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Manuel Roffo 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Cerro Porteno can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Loan watch23 Aug 2027
“I did not go to Anorthosis to sit and watch. I want to come back to Cerro Porteno and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
When it matters, Alan Soñora plays
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.
Loan watch23 Aug 2027
Antonio Martínez’s loan is measured in nothing happening
5 clean sheets from 21 appearances at Guarani de Fram. 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Cerro Porteno have made Manuel Roffo available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Loan watch23 Aug 2027
17 appearances away from home and 4 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.