The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
Bruno Leyes 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Máximo Tabuchi is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Facundo Altamira. 1‑0 against Agropecuario Argentino, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Misael Sosa.
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.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Arce was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It needed Luca Martínez Dupuy to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against San Martín SJ, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Máximo Tabuchi is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Temperley made Godoy Cruz work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Brian Orosco was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Facundo Altamira wants continental football; whether Godoy Cruz can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Daniel Barrea 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Máximo Tabuchi is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Godoy Cruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Altamira 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.
“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.
Bruno Leyes 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.
“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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Godoy Cruz would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
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 Oscar Gonzalez 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.
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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Leandro Quiroz 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.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Godoy Cruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Viera 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.
Nobody at Godoy Cruz 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.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Martín Pino’s negotiating for him
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.
“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.
Squad26 Oct 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.
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.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Godoy Cruz could ask drops and the wages Brian Orosco can ask rise.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vicente Poggi signs something — a contract at Godoy Cruz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Instituto go through and Godoy Cruz go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Godoy Cruz they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Baniyas had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The offer from Flora for Bruno Barrionuevo 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.
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.
Lucas Arce 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.
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.
The name of Natan Navarro has come up in conversations Godoy Cruz were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Esteban Burgos
Add another name to the list: Elche have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mateo Mendoza. The answer from Godoy Cruz has not changed — yet.
Vicente Poggi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Arce was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Godoy Cruz hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Godoy Cruz, another week without a signature from Lucas Arce.