Marked for Ignacio Vittar
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Central Córdoba SdE may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
$91.0K settles it between the clubs for Santiago Kojro
Aldosivi have accepted the money. What Central Córdoba SdE do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Alan Aguerre and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Horacio Tijanovich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
A loan move for Marco Di Cesare is in the works
Central Córdoba SdE have made the call to Racing Club. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
A loan move for Luca Arfaras is in the works
Central Córdoba SdE have made the call to Estudiantes. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
José Gómez gets picked when it counts
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 José Gómez is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces5 Jun 2028
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match5 Jun 2028
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
Central Córdoba SdE and Patronato have settled on $180.0K. 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.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Central Córdoba SdE have done the hard part with Alvarado, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Alan Aguerre 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 Jun 2028
A move Joaquín Flores would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Joaquín Flores is living that version at Central Córdoba SdE, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market5 Jun 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Lautaro Cano has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Central Córdoba SdE.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Ignacio Vittar 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Omar Bautista Gerez is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 May 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Alan Aguerre 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Bernabéu 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 dugout29 May 2028
Lucas Varaldo gets picked when it counts
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 Lucas Varaldo is on it.
Market29 May 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fernando Martínez signs something — a contract at Central Córdoba SdE or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout29 May 2028
Cristian Ibáñez 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
The dugout22 May 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Central Córdoba SdE may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 May 2028
Alan Aguerre 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 Central Córdoba SdE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Bernabéu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 May 2028
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout22 May 2028
Lautaro Cano has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Central Córdoba SdE 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 dugout22 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Javier Vallejos
“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.
Market22 May 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Santiago Moyano’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout22 May 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Cristian Ibáñez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market22 May 2028
Central Córdoba SdE have let the market know Santiago Fonzo can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 May 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Fernando Martínez
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Central Córdoba SdE lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match13 May 2028
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Central Córdoba SdE has to find a result from somewhere.
Match13 May 2028
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 10 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad15 May 2028
Alan Aguerre and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings15 May 2028
Lautaro Cano beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad15 May 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Vittar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 May 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Central Córdoba SdE told Yuri Casermeiro something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout15 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Paolo Dorini, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 May 2028
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Leonardo García after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Apr 2028
7 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.
Match15 Apr 2028
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Alan Aguerre and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match15 Apr 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom17 Apr 2028
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Kapij was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Leonardo García left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout17 Apr 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
No place for Gonzalo Rubert in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Central Córdoba SdE are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Apr 2028
Alan Aguerre 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Copetti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 Apr 2028
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Lautaro Kapij has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Tomás Iturre makes the team of the month
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 dugout3 Apr 2028
When it matters, Yoel Gerez 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.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Cristian Ibáñez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Central Córdoba SdE. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market3 Apr 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lucas Varaldo signs something — a contract at Central Córdoba SdE or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Mar 2028
5 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Alan Aguerre 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 Central Córdoba SdE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match25 Mar 2028
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Match25 Mar 2028
0‑1 to Independiente, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Kapij 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 dugout27 Mar 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Leonardo García to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout27 Mar 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
José Gómez gets picked when it counts
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 José Gómez is on it.
Market27 Mar 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Fernando Martínez’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Mar 2028
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Central Córdoba SdE has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Alan Aguerre and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match18 Mar 2028
Newell's Old Boys left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Lautaro Kapij 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
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The manager makes an example of Javier Vallejos
“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 dugout20 Mar 2028
Lucas Varaldo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Central Córdoba SdE 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.
Market20 Mar 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Central Córdoba SdE know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Feb 2028
Facundo Nazer damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Alan Aguerre 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 Central Córdoba SdE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Feb 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Leonardo García after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Copetti 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 dugout28 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ignacio Vittar, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Nadir Sánchez is the weekend's best young player
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
José Gómez gets picked when it counts
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 José Gómez is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout27 Dec 2027
Cristian Ibáñez: 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.” Central Córdoba SdE have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Lucas González 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 Dec 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yuri Casermeiro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
Lucas Varaldo gets picked when it counts
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 Lucas Varaldo is on it.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
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.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
Lisandro Musso 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 Lisandro Musso trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Nov 2027
Marco Iacobellis 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Flores was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Lucas Varaldo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Central Córdoba SdE 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 dugout29 Nov 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Central Córdoba SdE, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.80, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Central Córdoba SdE may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Lucas González and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Flores 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ignacio Vittar and Central Córdoba SdE agree another 4 years.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Leonardo García kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
Lucas González 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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bodo/Glimt have kept their man, and Central Córdoba SdE go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Copetti 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Horacio Tijanovich has moved up it.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Ignacio Vittar
“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 dugout4 Jan 2027
Lucas Varaldo gets picked when it counts
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 Lucas Varaldo is on it.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Lucas González and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 1‑0 win over Defensa y Justicia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Pignani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.04 — 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Leonardo Sequeira at his very best
Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Central Córdoba SdE.
Squad28 Sep 2026
10 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 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Michael Santos
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Leonardo García kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.