Marked for Brayan Gómez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Oct 2027
46 days out for Gaston Barrios after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Platense will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Platense
Agustín Reule and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom11 Oct 2027
Wages eat 151% of everything Platense earn
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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Platense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brayan Gómez 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sebastián Píriz, and the manager let it.
Market11 Oct 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Luca Gutiérrez has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Platense.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom27 Sep 2027
Pressure builds in the Platense boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Agustín Reule 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 Sep 2027
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Platense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gino Sandiano 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 Sep 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 dugout27 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jul 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Platense
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
Robert Machado: 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.” Platense have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The deal with Deportivo Maldonado is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Agustín Reule 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Brayan Gómez commits to Platense for another 4 years.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Platense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gino Sandiano 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
Squad21 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Stéfano Perdomo out for 74 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Platense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market21 Jun 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 Platense, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Jonathan Garín: 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.” Platense have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Tacuarembo, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Wanderers is saying, and nobody at Platense is enjoying the guessing.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Platense
Agustín Reule and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Platense
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enrique Almeida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Platense asked and Deportivo Maldonado said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom21 Jun 2027
222% of the income goes out in wages at Platense
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
A one-man rearguard from Felipe Ortiz
There were 13 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad10 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 116 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match8 May 2027
4 matches without a win for Platense
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Platense are no longer polite ones.
Squad10 May 2027
Agustín Reule 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.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Platense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enrique Almeida 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 terraces10 May 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Felipe Ortiz 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.
The dugout10 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jonathan Garín, and the manager let it.
Match8 May 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Platense
Agustín Reule 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.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
Graduation day at Platense
4 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Match13 Feb 2027
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market15 Feb 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Martin Coates 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jose Ugarte has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market15 Feb 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marcelo Araujo has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market15 Feb 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Alejandro Rios has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Felipe Chéchile
“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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Atenas keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Gino Sandiano 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 dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Luca Gutiérrez
“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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Diego Machado 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Sebastián Píriz 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad7 Dec 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 Platense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Platense
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gino Sandiano 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.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Wages swallow 92% of the Platense income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
Cerrito 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.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
Mar de Fondo 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
5 new faces, and Platense are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
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 Agustín da Luz is on it.