Platense go through and Godoy Cruz go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Godoy Cruz can pretend not to have heard.
12 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Godoy Cruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Altamira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Brian Orosco
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Benjamín Schamine decided nobody was going anywhere. Mitre had no time left to answer.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Godoy Cruz can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Altamira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Godoy Cruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Benjamín Schamine 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Misael Sosa
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Godoy Cruz will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from KR for Oscar Gonzalez was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Bruno Leyes wants continental football; whether Godoy Cruz can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Vicente Poggi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Benjamín Schamine 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.
Marked 8.51 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“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.
Facundo Altamira 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Lucas Arce 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brian Orosco trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Diego Viera has his answer from Godoy Cruz; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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 Enzo Briones is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mateo Mendoza signs something — a contract at Godoy Cruz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Lucas Arce and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 Guillermo Cosaro is on it.
Vicente Poggi has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
In brief
The dugoutFederico Milo knocks on the manager's door
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Godoy Cruz is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Emanuel Quinteros has agreed terms with Argentinos Juniors for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Lucas Arce 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.
Martín Pino 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brian Orosco trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Guillermo Cosaro is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Martín Pino will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Godoy Cruz the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Godoy Cruz have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Lucas Arce and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Godoy Cruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brian Orosco is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Godoy Cruz, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Godoy Cruz know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Willian Riquelme is on it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.