A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Racing have done the hard part with River Plate, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Álex Vázquez 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.
Racing asked and Gimnasia La Plata said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Racing this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Racing has been clear about where Robinson Ferreira stands, which is more than many ever get.
25 appearances at Uruguay Montevideo and the goals have stopped going in. Racing lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
In brief
The dugoutÁlex Vázquez asks for a word with the manager
Alejo Fernández 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 Nicolás Lugano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Rocha will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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 table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Rocha says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rocha, and both men came out saying it was fine.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Racing lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Renzo Bacchia 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Racing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Vázquez 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Racing, and 10 appearances in 46 say he has earned the hearing.
9 clean sheets from 25 appearances at Uruguay Montevideo. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
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 Alexander Acosta is on it.
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 Facundo Parada has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutRodrigo Gadea knocks on the manager's door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rocha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Lugano 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Rocha can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Alejo Fernández watches a signing take the shirt he was promised
At 26 the pathway was supposed to be open. Instead Rocha went to the market, and a local readership is asking the question the academy staff are too diplomatic to ask out loud.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rocha know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutManuel Ayala asks for a word with the manager
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Racing lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Racing have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Álex Vázquez 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Axel Atum 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.
Alejo Fernández 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Lugano 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.
10 goals in 23 games at Treze — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Rocha updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Manuel Ayala trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
Renzo Bacchia 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Racing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Vázquez 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Racing, and 10 appearances in 38 say he has earned the hearing.
25 appearances at Uruguay Montevideo and the goals have stopped going in. Racing lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Kevin Bentancur after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Gastón Viera damages knee ligaments — 110 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 110 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.
Axel Atum 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.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Sebastián da Silva’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Racing.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Racing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Vázquez 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.
Marked 8.27 — 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Racing pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Kevin Bentancur could afford to be generous.
Gastón Viera damages knee ligaments — 139 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 139 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Rocha waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Racing is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Renzo Bacchia 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.
Add another name to the list: Deportivo Italiano have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Diego Cheuquepal. The answer from Racing has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Atum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Rocha waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Racing is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Bautista Tomatis was one of the reasons people came, and $2.8M does not replace that by itself.
Renzo Bacchia 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fluminense have kept their man, and Racing go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Bautista Tomatis 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bautista Tomatis. 2‑1 against Wanderers, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Racing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Vázquez 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Racing, and 5 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.26 for the rest of it.
Nicolás Lugano 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.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Basanez were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Rocha know it.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.01, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Renzo Bacchia 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Leandro Mamut 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Leandro Mamut. 2‑0 against Danubio, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Racing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Vázquez 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Atum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Giovanni González’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Racing needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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 Leandro Zabala is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Racing. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Racing have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Renzo Bacchia 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Axel Atum 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Álex Vázquez 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Kevin Bentancur after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Racing have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Racing, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bautista Tomatis 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.
Racing asked and Talleres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Atum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Racing can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Guillermo Cotugno is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Rocha have made the call to Liverpool Montevideo. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Elián Chaves is 20, and Rocha have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
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 Franco Albín is on it.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Rocha will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Racing this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Manuel Ayala again, and this time the name on the line is Rocha. Racing are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Agustín De la Cuesta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Montevideo City Torque keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Fabricio Santos 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 had been thinking. Adrián Reta 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paysandu FC have kept their man, and Rocha go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at Rocha 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.
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Álex Vázquez 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 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.
In brief
The dugoutRodrigo Gadea knocks on the manager’s door
Federico Varese 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 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.
20 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Racing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Hernández 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.