Marked for Octavio Martínez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Mar 2029
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AJ Auxerre are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Octavio Martínez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
“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 dugout12 Mar 2029
Clément Akpa has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AJ Auxerre 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Ariel 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 dugout12 Mar 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Émile Le Gall was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the AJ Auxerre dressing room was either.
Squad12 Mar 2029
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. AJ Auxerre lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
Market12 Mar 2029
The name of Clément Akpa keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AJ Auxerre say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces31 Jul 2028
Anger at Aldosivi spills outside the ground
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.
Market31 Jul 2028
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Lucas Acosta reports back to Aldosivi with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Market31 Jul 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Aldosivi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 Jul 2028
The wait goes on for Aldosivi
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.
Match29 Jul 2028
The goals have deserted Aldosivi
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Aldosivi can tell you which week it ends in.
Market31 Jul 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Aldosivi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Octavio Martínez 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Aldosivi
Lucas Acosta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Apr 2028
3 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Match19 Apr 2028
Aldosivi march on in the cup
Madryn are out and Aldosivi go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market24 Apr 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 Aldosivi can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Lucas Acosta 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 dugout24 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lucas Acosta, and the manager let it.
Match22 Apr 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Aldosivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elías López 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 dugout24 Apr 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 Tobias Fuchs to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Jan 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aldosivi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
Pressure builds in the Aldosivi boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market31 Jan 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 Aldosivi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Lucas Acosta 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Elías López 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 dugout31 Jan 2028
Lucas Acosta 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
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
“This is a club with real history, and I did not have to think about it for long.” The new manager takes charge with every slate wiped clean.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A fracture rules Mikel Villanueva out for 67 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aldosivi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market6 Dec 2027
Lucas Acosta 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 Aldosivi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Lucas Acosta 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 Aldosivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets6 Dec 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Platense have kept their man, and Aldosivi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Lucas Acosta
“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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Aldosivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Morello 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 targets6 Dec 2027
Palmeiras 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 dugout6 Dec 2027
Malcom Braida is playing like a man with something to prove
The oldest phenomenon in the sport: a new voice in the dressing room and suddenly everybody is available for everything. Malcom Braida is training as though the last team sheet never existed, because as far as he is concerned it does not.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Carlos Alberto Arce clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Squad8 Nov 2027
102 days out for Mikel Villanueva after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aldosivi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
The Aldosivi board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
The dugout8 Nov 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.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Lucas Acosta 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 Aldosivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Nov 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Aldosivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elías López 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
Squad11 Oct 2027
Lucas Acosta 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 Aldosivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Elías López 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Aldosivi told Franco Cáceres something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Tobías Andrada 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.
Market11 Oct 2027
Rodrigo Mazur is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Aldosivi has been clear about where Rodrigo Mazur stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 May 2027
“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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words exchanged at Aldosivi
Malcom Braida 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.
Market31 May 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Lucas Acosta has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Aldosivi.
The dugout31 May 2027
Lucas Acosta 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.
Squad31 May 2027
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Aldosivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Morello 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
Squad3 May 2027
Santiago Sosa Yung 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 May 2027
Words at Aldosivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Zalazar 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 dugout3 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Elías López
“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.
Squad3 May 2027
Tobías Andrada named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Tobías Andrada is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout3 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rodrigo Márquez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market3 May 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Octavio Martínez has his answer from Aldosivi; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout3 May 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Looking ahead3 May 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Franco Godoy’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Aldosivi needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout3 May 2027
Matías Gastaldi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Aldosivi 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.