Marked for Juan Salcedo
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Nov 2028
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.
Market20 Nov 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 The request is on a desk at Cerro Porteno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market20 Nov 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cerro Porteno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Manuel Roffo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Cerro Porteno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Chancalay 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.
Loan watch20 Nov 2028
“I did not go to Guarani de Fram to sit and watch. I want to come back to Cerro Porteno and fight for my place.” 15 appearances in 49 matches say the rest.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
When it matters, Jorge Morel plays
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 dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Juan Salcedo's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
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
Steady
Match24 Oct 2028
A European night to remember for Cerro Porteno
1‑1 against Colo-Colo, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Squad30 Oct 2028
82 days out for Javier Talavera after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cerro Porteno will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match24 Oct 2028
The run at home goes on for Cerro Porteno
15 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Market30 Oct 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cerro Porteno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Manuel Roffo 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.
Market30 Oct 2028
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Cerro Porteno can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomás Chancalay was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
No place for Juan Salcedo on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Cerro Porteno pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
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 Tomás Chancalay is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Oct 2028
A fracture rules Javier Talavera out for 90 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cerro Porteno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market23 Oct 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tobías Portillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cerro Porteno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market23 Oct 2028
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Blás Riveros wants continental football; whether Cerro Porteno can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Cerro Porteno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Chancalay 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Fabricio Domínguez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch23 Oct 2028
“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 Cerro Porteno, and 15 appearances in 45 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Héctor Bobadilla, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
Jorge Morel 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 Jorge Morel is on it.
Market23 Oct 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Juan Salcedo may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Oct 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market16 Oct 2028
Only the photograph left for Junior Paredes
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Junior Paredes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cerro Porteno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cerro Porteno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Blás Riveros 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 dugout16 Oct 2028
“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 dugout16 Oct 2028
Mateo Mendoza has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Cerro Porteno 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.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Juan Salcedo is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Loan watch16 Oct 2028
29 appearances away from home and 7 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Loan watch16 Oct 2028
The goals keep arriving from Alcides Ávalos’s exile
7 goals in 30 games at Fernando de la Mora — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Cerro Porteno updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Oct 2028
2‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Cerro Porteno came through the finding-out well against Boston River.
Match9 Oct 2028
45 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Squad9 Oct 2028
106 days out for Javier Talavera after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cerro Porteno will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market9 Oct 2028
Alan Romero has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cerro Porteno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Manuel Roffo 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alan Soñora and Cerro Porteno agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Cerro Porteno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Chancalay 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 dugout9 Oct 2028
Juan Salcedo 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.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Marked 7.81. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match11 Sep 2028
45 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Market11 Sep 2028
Alan Romero has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cerro Porteno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market11 Sep 2028
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Manuel Roffo wants continental football; whether Cerro Porteno can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Manuel Roffo 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Tomás Chancalay 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.
Loan watch11 Sep 2028
10 clean sheets from 29 appearances at Resistencia. 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.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
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.
Market11 Sep 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Juan Salcedo may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Cerro Porteno will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market4 Sep 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cerro Porteno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market4 Sep 2028
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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Fabricio Domínguez 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Cerro Porteno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Blás Riveros 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
A muscle injury sidelines Juan Roldán for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Cerro Porteno will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
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 Tomás Chancalay is on it.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
Juan Salcedo is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Market4 Sep 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cerro Porteno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Blás Riveros goes off with his country
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Cerro Porteno would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Aug 2028
“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.
Market21 Aug 2028
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Market21 Aug 2028
Junior Paredes has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cerro Porteno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Manuel Roffo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market21 Aug 2028
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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomás Chancalay was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
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.
Loan watch21 Aug 2028
28 appearances at Fernando de la Mora and the goals keep coming. Cerro Porteno are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
Juan Salcedo 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 Juan Salcedo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match14 Aug 2028
45 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Market14 Aug 2028
“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.
Market14 Aug 2028
The name of Tomás Chancalay has come up in conversations Cerro Porteno were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market14 Aug 2028
Alan Romero has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cerro Porteno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Manuel Roffo 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 Aug 2028
Words at Cerro Porteno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Blás Riveros 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.
Loan watch14 Aug 2028
27 appearances at Resistencia and the goals have stopped going in. Cerro Porteno lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
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.
Market14 Aug 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Aug 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Carlos Favero
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cerro Porteno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market7 Aug 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 Cerro Porteno can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Aug 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cerro Porteno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market7 Aug 2028
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Cerro Porteno can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomás Chancalay was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Alan Soñora 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Guillermo Benítez and Cerro Porteno agree another 1 years.
Loan watch7 Aug 2028
“I did not go to Guarani de Fram to sit and watch. I want to come back to Cerro Porteno and fight for my place.” 13 appearances in 34 matches say the rest.
The dugout7 Aug 2028
“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
Upbeat
Squad31 Jul 2028
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cerro Porteno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market31 Jul 2028
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” River Plate had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market31 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market31 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Cerro Porteno people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market31 Jul 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tobías Portillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cerro Porteno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Manuel Roffo 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 Cerro Porteno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Cerro Porteno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Blás Riveros 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 dugout31 Jul 2028
Juan Salcedo 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.
Loan watch31 Jul 2028
“I watch every Cerro Porteno game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Libertad runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match8 Jul 2028
The unbeaten run reaches 13. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match10 Jul 2028
The season ends: position 1 for Cerro Porteno
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 45 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Market10 Jul 2028
The offer from River Plate for Tomás Chancalay 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.
Market10 Jul 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cerro Porteno have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market10 Jul 2028
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Héctor Bobadilla had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market10 Jul 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 Cerro Porteno can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Cerro Porteno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Chancalay 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Fabricio Domínguez 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 dugout10 Jul 2028
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
Upbeat
Market12 Jun 2028
Mateo Mendoza 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 Cerro Porteno can pretend not to have heard.
Market12 Jun 2028
The offer from Slovan Bratislava for Tomás Chancalay 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.
Match10 Jun 2028
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Luis Amarilla scored in the 89th minute, 2 de Mayo had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Cerro Porteno took the lot.
Market12 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Rubio Nu waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Cerro Porteno is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market12 Jun 2028
“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.
Match10 Jun 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Cerro Porteno did not have in the autumn.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Fabricio Domínguez 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.
Match10 Jun 2028
A 1‑0 win over 2 de Mayo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Blás Riveros 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 May 2028
A fracture rules Abel Luciatti out for 32 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cerro Porteno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad22 May 2028
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Market22 May 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 Cerro Porteno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market22 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cerro Porteno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market22 May 2028
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Salcedo wants continental football; whether Cerro Porteno can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Match20 May 2028
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings22 May 2028
A performance of 9.44 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match20 May 2028
Cerro Porteno make home a hard place to visit
9 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Fabricio Domínguez 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 May 2028
Abel Luciatti breaks a bone — 40 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings15 May 2028
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.37, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market15 May 2028
“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.
Market15 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cerro Porteno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 May 2028
Manuel Roffo 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Tomás Chancalay 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 terraces15 May 2028
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.
Match13 May 2028
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match6 May 2028
3‑0, and Ariel Gamarra took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Cerro Porteno tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad8 May 2028
Manuel Roffo 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 Cerro Porteno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Cerro Porteno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Chancalay 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.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Fabricio Domínguez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.32. 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.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Ariel Gamarra was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. 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.
Squad8 May 2028
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad8 May 2028
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Cerro Porteno have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
The dugout8 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Ariel Gamarra
“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 dugout8 May 2028
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Federico Gonzalez could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad13 Mar 2028
61 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cerro Porteno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
A brace, and Jonatan Torres takes the afternoon — 8.93
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jonatan Torres provided it, and the 8.93 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match11 Mar 2028
Nobody wants to play Cerro Porteno right now
5 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Cerro Porteno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Chancalay 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Alan Soñora 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 Cerro Porteno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match11 Mar 2028
It finished 3‑1, and it was Jonatan Torres’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Cerro Porteno.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Héctor Bobadilla and Cerro Porteno agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Ninety minutes of Alan Soñora at his very best
Marked 8.08. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Cerro Porteno.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Juan Salcedo did the work nobody counts — 7.32
9 combined actions and 7.32. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad28 Feb 2028
Luis Amarilla damages knee ligaments — 76 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 76 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.
Match23 Feb 2028
A European night to remember for Cerro Porteno
2‑1 against Platense, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Match23 Feb 2028
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Platense will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
A brace, and Jonatan Torres takes the afternoon — 8.88
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jonatan Torres provided it, and the 8.88 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
A defender's goal wins it for Cerro Porteno — 7.73
1 for Juan Salcedo, marked 7.73, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Market28 Feb 2028
Only the photograph left for Alan Romero
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alan Romero will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cerro Porteno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match26 Feb 2028
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Manuel Roffo 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.
Match26 Feb 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jonatan Torres. 2‑0 against Rubio Nu, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Feb 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Luis Amarilla
83 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cerro Porteno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
A brace, and Jonatan Torres takes the afternoon — 8.89
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jonatan Torres provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market21 Feb 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 Cerro Porteno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market21 Feb 2028
Only the photograph left for Amín Molinas
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Amín Molinas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cerro Porteno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Manuel Roffo 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Cerro Porteno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Chancalay 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.
Match19 Feb 2028
A 2‑0 win over Nacional, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market21 Feb 2028
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.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Blás Riveros was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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
Upbeat
Squad31 Jan 2028
The knee: Luis Amarilla out for 109 days
109 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cerro Porteno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 Cerro Porteno can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Juan Iturbe 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.
Market31 Jan 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Libertad waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Cerro Porteno is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market31 Jan 2028
The bid was some way short and Cerro Porteno did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Manuel Roffo 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 Jan 2028
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Cerro Porteno can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Too much change too quickly at Cerro Porteno
24 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.
Loan watch31 Jan 2028
“I did not go to Libertad to sit and watch. I want to come back to Cerro Porteno and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Luis Amarilla
131 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cerro Porteno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Juan Iturbe breaks a bone — 94 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market10 Jan 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market10 Jan 2028
“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.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Everything agreed with Tacuary, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Manuel Roffo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Jan 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Juan Salcedo and Cerro Porteno agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market10 Jan 2028
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Alexis Fretes wants continental football; whether Cerro Porteno can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. San Lorenzo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match14 Jun 2027
15 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Boca Juniors wanted more than $7.0M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Market14 Jun 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.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” San Lorenzo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market14 Jun 2027
The bid was some way short and San Lorenzo did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Gastón Hernández 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Facundo Farías 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.
Loan watch14 Jun 2027
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Deportivo Riestra runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces26 Apr 2027
Supporters organise against the San Lorenzo board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad26 Apr 2027
There were 10 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.
Match21 Apr 2027
Gimnasia y Esgrima ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market26 Apr 2027
Guzmán Corujo 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 San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
Match24 Apr 2027
9 matches without a win, and then this, against Newell's Old Boys. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Gastón Hernández 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Farías was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Apr 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Alexis Cuello’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to San Lorenzo.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Appearance number 100 for Juan Salcedo
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.