Marked for Facundo Morales
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Apr 2032
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Miramar Misiones, and it could have been more.
Player ratings5 Apr 2032
A brace, and Simón Rivero takes the afternoon — 8.23
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Simón Rivero provided it, and the 8.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market5 Apr 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Progreso can pretend not to have heard.
Market5 Apr 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Santiago Correa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Progreso the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Apr 2032
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.
Market5 Apr 2032
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Progreso can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad5 Apr 2032
Santiago Corbo 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.
Match3 Apr 2032
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Simón Rivero in the middle of it, and Miramar Misiones unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
The dugout5 Apr 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Santiago Franca, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match14 Feb 2032
Progreso make home a hard place to visit
18 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Match14 Feb 2032
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings16 Feb 2032
Two goals and a mark of 8.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings16 Feb 2032
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.10, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market16 Feb 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Santiago Franca will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Progreso the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market16 Feb 2032
“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.
The dugout16 Feb 2032
Agustín Buteler: 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.” Progreso have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom16 Feb 2032
Progreso moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Nicolas Da Silva, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Squad16 Feb 2032
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.
In brief
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Boardroom
18 academy graduates step up at Progreso
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Squad
A row about effort at Progreso
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Match
The drought breaks for Progreso
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Jan 2032
“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.
Market5 Jan 2032
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Progreso have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match5 Jan 2032
Progreso are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 62 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad5 Jan 2032
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Progreso had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Market5 Jan 2032
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad5 Jan 2032
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.
Transfer targets5 Jan 2032
No deal for Thiago Mella at that price
Progreso offered $48.0K; Rocha said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets5 Jan 2032
Progreso asked and River Plate said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market5 Jan 2032
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Dec 2031
“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 Montevideo City Torque, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Axel Roldán breaks a bone — 70 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market29 Dec 2031
The offer from Platense for Jonathan Zayas 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.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Jonathan Dellarossa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets29 Dec 2031
$250.0K was the most the club would pay and Progreso were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renzo Orihuela 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 targets29 Dec 2031
Montevideo City Torque asked and Rampla Juniors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets29 Dec 2031
A loan enquiry to Benfica: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout29 Dec 2031
The manager makes an example of Máximo Lorenzi
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Dec 2031
“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.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Axel Roldán breaks a bone — 77 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets22 Dec 2031
Everything agreed with San Lorenzo, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom22 Dec 2031
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Stephen Duke-McKenna has agreed terms with Wanderers for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad22 Dec 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Montevideo City Torque this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market22 Dec 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Montevideo City Torque they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets22 Dec 2031
$250.0K on the table at Progreso. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Renzo Orihuela 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.
Transfer targets22 Dec 2031
Montevideo City Torque asked and Rentistas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Dec 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Villa Teresa waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Progreso is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market22 Dec 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Santiago Franca will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Progreso the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets22 Dec 2031
Progreso have gone to Danubio with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market22 Dec 2031
Progreso say no — this time
The offer from Defensor Sporting for Facundo Morales 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.
Boardroom22 Dec 2031
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Santiago Franca 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.
Squad22 Dec 2031
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.
Squad22 Dec 2031
A row about effort at Progreso
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago Corbo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom22 Dec 2031
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The dugout22 Dec 2031
“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
Upbeat
Market14 Jul 2031
“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.
Market14 Jul 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Progreso people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout14 Jul 2031
Lautaro Lucero: 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.” Progreso have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
Everything agreed with Cerro, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match12 Jul 2031
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Progreso did not have in the autumn.
Market14 Jul 2031
Progreso say no — this time
The offer from Atenas for Facundo Morales 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.
Player ratings14 Jul 2031
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Words exchanged at Progreso
Tiziano Mansilla 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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
A row about effort at Progreso
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago Corbo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market16 Jun 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Progreso can pretend not to have heard.
Market16 Jun 2031
Progreso say no — this time
The offer from Doxa for Facundo Morales 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.
Match14 Jun 2031
Nobody wants to play Progreso right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Transfer targets16 Jun 2031
An offer of $350.0K for Lucas Viana
Progreso have gone to Juventud with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad16 Jun 2031
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.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Words at Progreso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Fernández 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 targets16 Jun 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The terraces16 Jun 2031
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.
Match14 Jun 2031
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Agustín Paz. 1‑0 against Wanderers, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Feb 2031
Santiago Franca damages knee ligaments — 56 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 56 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.
Market24 Feb 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Progreso can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout24 Feb 2031
“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 Feb 2031
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.
Squad24 Feb 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jesús Rossi and Progreso agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad24 Feb 2031
A row about effort at Progreso
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago Corbo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Feb 2031
“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 terraces24 Feb 2031
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Rodrigo Martínez 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.
Player ratings24 Feb 2031
Rodrigo Martínez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Jan 2031
Santiago Franca damages knee ligaments — 93 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 93 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.
Market20 Jan 2031
“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.
Market20 Jan 2031
Progreso say no — this time
The offer from Cerro for Esteban Crucci 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.
Market20 Jan 2031
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Progreso can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad20 Jan 2031
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.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Juan Quintana 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.
Squad20 Jan 2031
32 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout20 Jan 2031
Emiliano Álvarez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Progreso 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 Jan 2031
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Facundo Saravia may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.