Marked for José Vanetta
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 May 2027
52 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Progreso lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad31 May 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 Progreso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
A row about effort at Progreso
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Saravia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 May 2027
“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.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match29 May 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 May 2027
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 Gabriel Bentancur to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout31 May 2027
Juan Manuel Díaz dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout31 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 May 2027
Progreso march on in the cup
Fenix are out and Progreso go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match19 May 2027
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Progreso scored in the 120th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings24 May 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.18, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Agustín Paz beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Nahuel López, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.95
A mark of 7.95 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The dugout24 May 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Agustín Ocampo 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.
Match22 May 2027
Whatever happens, Progreso do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
Mauro Pittón 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 Unión de Santa Fe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pintado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Santiago Grella and Unión de Santa Fe agree another 4 years.
Market24 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Julián Palacios’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout24 May 2027
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 dugout24 May 2027
The manager makes Eric Ramírez a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Unión de Santa Fe. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match15 May 2027
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Plaza Colonia spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Market17 May 2027
“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 Progreso, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 May 2027
A falling-out at Progreso
Marco Saravia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Emiliano Álvarez 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 ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match15 May 2027
A 1‑0 win over Plaza Colonia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings17 May 2027
The afternoon belonged to José Vanetta
A mark of 7.44, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout17 May 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gabriel Bentancur on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout17 May 2027
“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
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
Gaston Bentancur damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Progreso
Agustín Ocampo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Progreso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emiliano Álvarez 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Cristian Godoy 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alejandro Rios 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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Mauro Martín 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 Mauro Martín is on it.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
José Vanetta 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 José Vanetta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Progreso. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market8 Feb 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Federico Ruiz’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
Gaston Bentancur damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Progreso
Emiliano Álvarez 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Agustín Pinheiro 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 dugout1 Feb 2027
“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 dugout1 Feb 2027
José Vanetta 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
The name of Randall Rodríguez keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Progreso say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Progreso lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market14 Dec 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Progreso have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Progreso
Emiliano Álvarez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cortulua have kept their man, and Progreso go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market14 Dec 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Agustin Nunez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
José Vanetta 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Progreso will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Mauro Martín 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 Mauro Martín is on it.
Market14 Dec 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Agustín Requena has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Progreso.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Progreso lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“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.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
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.
Market7 Dec 2026
Only the photograph left for David Santo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Santo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Progreso the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Progreso
Agustín Ocampo 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Progreso
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emiliano Álvarez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Agustín Requena
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Progreso will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
A loan move for Victor Giraldo is in the works
Progreso have made the call to Cortulua. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
Emiliano Álvarez 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Progreso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrián Colombino 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Renzo Bacchia 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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Agustín Ocampo has written the date down.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager plants his flag on José Vanetta
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from José Vanetta’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Progreso may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 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 Progreso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Emiliano Álvarez 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 dugout26 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Progreso
19 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
José Vanetta 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 Progreso, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Oct 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Progreso
Emiliano Álvarez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Progreso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrián Colombino 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
Mauro Martín 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 Mauro Martín is on it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
José Vanetta 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 Progreso, and both men came out saying it was fine.