Marked for Brian Mancini
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Sep 2027
Maximiliano Viera damages knee ligaments — 99 days out
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.
Match6 Sep 2027
Every point is an argument now for Rampla Juniors
Position 12 and 28 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Rampla Juniors is running low.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
Brian Mancini: 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.” Rampla Juniors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Adrián Acevedo 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Rampla Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enrique Etcheverry 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 dugout6 Sep 2027
Adrián Acevedo 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 Rampla Juniors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Kevin Alaniz moves up the pecking order
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Rampla Juniors than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Rampla Juniors trim $681.7K from the budget
The money the manager was told he had is now money the manager used to have. $681.7K, gone from the table without a statement, and a dressing room that understands what it means.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Aug 2027
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rampla Juniors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Nacional keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Yamil García 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 Rampla Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolás Royón, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Yamil García named player of the week
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Yamil García has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Lucas Castro 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 Aug 2027
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 Franco Delgado is on it.
Market16 Aug 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rampla Juniors know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Maximiliano Viera
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rampla Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Apr 2027
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Adrián Vila, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Nicolás Royón 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Rampla Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrew Teuten 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Diego Nunez 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Cristian Hernandez 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.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sebastián Cal, and the manager let it.
Match10 Apr 2027
A goal on 94 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.82 on the card, and the Rampla Juniors support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Apr 2027
74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rampla Juniors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.03, and nobody on the pitch better.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Adrián Acevedo and Rampla Juniors agree another 2 years.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Nicolás Royón 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Andrew Teuten 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.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Ninety minutes of Yamil García at his very best
Marked 8.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Rampla Juniors.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Mar 2027
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rampla Juniors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Marked 7.90 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Yamil García 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 Rampla Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Andrew Teuten 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 terraces22 Mar 2027
He is 21 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.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Nobody on the pitch touched Yamil García
7.88, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Rampla Juniors had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 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 Rampla Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ángel Llanes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad25 Jan 2027
7 new faces, and Rampla Juniors 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Fee done, terms next for Luis Meneses
Rampla Juniors and Rentistas have settled on $80.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Nicolás Royón and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. San Lorenzo have kept their man, and Rampla Juniors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The clock did what Deportivo Maldonado would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ángel Llanes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
27 days out for Alberto Eiraldi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rampla Juniors will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rampla Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Rampla Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrew Teuten 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.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Too much change too quickly at Rampla Juniors
9 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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Brian Mancini
“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
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Alberto Eiraldi out for 64 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rampla Juniors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Nicolás Royón 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lucas Martínez and Rampla Juniors agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad23 Nov 2026
The formation has left Lucas Martínez behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Rampla Juniors will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Matías Canedo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Rampla Juniors 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Rampla Juniors. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Nicolás Royón 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Rampla Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ángel Llanes 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rampla Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ángel Llanes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Nicolás Royón 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Rampla Juniors
15 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Rampla Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johnson Ayaane 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
42 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Adrián Acevedo 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nahuel Suarez 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ángel Llanes falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Marco Posse 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
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
Out, 1‑4 to Juventud, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
A cup hiding at Juventud leaves Rampla Juniors explaining themselves
1-4, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Squad17 Aug 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 7.69 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Nicolás Royón and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Rampla Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johnson Ayaane 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Rampla Juniors dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Market17 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rampla Juniors, another week without a signature from Andrew Teuten.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
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 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Manuel Araujo to a room that had heard them before.