The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Huracan Buceo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Facundo Lemos 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.
Squad22 Nov 2032
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Ferreira 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.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Huracan Buceo, another week without a signature from Felipe Villalba.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Huracan Buceo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Joaquín Giudice and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Ferreira 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.
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 Andrés Caro is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrés Caro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 5 on 24 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
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 Jorge Pereira has written the date down.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Huracan Buceo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Richard Pearson has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexander Cabeza and Huracan Buceo agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad8 Nov 2032
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Bonilla 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.
Boardroom8 Nov 2032
113% of the income goes out in wages at Huracan Buceo
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huracan Buceo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Huracan Buceo, another week without a signature from Jorge Pereira.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager's exit leaves Diego Zalazar exposed
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Huracan Buceo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Facundo Lemos 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 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Pavel Núñez has his answer from Huracan Buceo; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody at Huracan Buceo 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pavel Núñez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutDiego Zalazar loses the manager who believed in him
The words a physio says slowly. 87 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Huracan Buceo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Facundo Lemos 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.
Squad25 Oct 2032
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Ferreira 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 borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huracan Buceo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Huracan Buceo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Huracan Buceo, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2032
Diego Bonilla 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 2032
7 new faces, and Huracan Buceo 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Huracan Buceo, another week without a signature from Jorge Pereira.
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 Juan Escobar is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Facundo Lemos signs something — a contract at Huracan Buceo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Huracan Buceo. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
24 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Huracan Buceo can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Facundo Lemos and Huracan Buceo agree another 3 years.
Facundo Lemos 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 shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad4 Oct 2032
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Ferreira 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 manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Huracan Buceo are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Facundo Lemos was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
“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 Huracan Buceo, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2032
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Ferreira 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.
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 Andrés Caro is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrés Caro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom13 Sep 2032
184% of the income goes out in wages at Huracan Buceo
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.
Nobody at Huracan Buceo 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Joaquín Rodríguez signs something — a contract at Huracan Buceo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
24 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
50 graduates, from a department now rated 7 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
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.
“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 Huracan Buceo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Facundo Lemos 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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad6 Sep 2032
Diego Bonilla 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 embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Huracan Buceo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Facundo Lemos 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 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 borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Huracan Buceo is running low.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Huracan Buceo can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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 Andrés Caro is on 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 Huracan Buceo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Huracan Buceo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Huracan Buceo has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Paulo Monteiro is living that version at Huracan Buceo, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad16 Aug 2032
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Bonilla 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.
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.
Paulo Monteiro is 18, and Huracan Buceo 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.
Nobody at Huracan Buceo 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Joaquín Rodríguez signs something — a contract at Huracan Buceo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Joaquín Giudice 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad9 Aug 2032
8 new faces, and Huracan Buceo 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.
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 Joaquín Ferreira is on it.
Still no offer on the table, and Luciano Olaizola’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Huracan Buceo will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Richard Pearson has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Huracan Buceo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Osayi Olagunju has just signed for Huracan Buceo, and for once the answer mattered.
Facundo Lemos 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 gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Squad2 Aug 2032
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Ferreira 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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $12.2M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Huracan Buceo know which stage they are at.
“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 Huracan Buceo, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Huracan Buceo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 6 arrived, 13 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luciano Olaizola was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Huracan Buceo know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Huracan Buceo, another week without a signature from Felipe Villalba.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Huracan Buceo can pretend not to have heard.
Facundo Lemos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Ferreira 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.
Boardroom19 Jul 2032
178% of the income goes out in wages at Huracan Buceo
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.
Huracan Buceo have made the call to Terremoto. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Ignacio Schneider is on 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 Huracan Buceo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Huracan Buceo can pretend not to have heard.
Facundo Lemos 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 Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Joaquín Ferreira is on 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 Huracan Buceo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Huracan Buceo, another week without a signature from Santiago González.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Ferreira 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.
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 Andrés Caro is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luca Fraga trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Facundo Lemos 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.
Huracan Buceo asked and Montevideo City Torque said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Enzo Borgarelli has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Huracan Buceo.
The dugout14 Jun 2032
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Richard Pearson left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Huracan Buceo will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“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 Huracan Buceo, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2032
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Ferreira 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Facundo Lemos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2032
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Rodríguez 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.
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.
Marked 7.06 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Huracan Buceo 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.
Salto next, and one man in the Huracan Buceo dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Luca Fraga scored in the 87th minute, Potencia had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Huracan Buceo took the lot.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
7.72, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Nacional go through and Huracan Buceo go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
7.42, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Huracan Buceo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Facundo Lemos 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Deutscher FK held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Huracan Buceo answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
In brief
BoardroomThe borrowing at Huracan Buceo reaches $11.9M
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.
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.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
The manager has not finished forgetting Enzo Borgarelli'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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Facundo Lemos signs something — a contract at Huracan Buceo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
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 Eder Balanta has written the date down.
0‑3 against Rocha, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad19 Apr 2032
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Ferreira 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.
Ignacio Neira 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 embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Facundo Lemos knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Richard Pearson after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
The manager has not finished forgetting Facundo Lemos'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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Huracan Buceo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Facundo Lemos 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $11.9M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Richard Pearson after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Huracan Buceo can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.92, and 2 involvements.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
Boardroom$521.6K of the owner's money at Huracan Buceo
Colon are out and Huracan Buceo go through, 3‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match20 Mar 2032
Diego Bonilla wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Diego Bonilla found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Salto went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
7.73, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad8 Mar 2032
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Rodríguez 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.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Facundo Lemos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Ferreira 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 embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Minute 85, against Bella Italia, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Something was said to Joaquín Rodríguez and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Richard Pearson after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Martín Ríos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Huracan Buceo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom16 Feb 2032
12 academy players handed senior numbers at Huracan Buceo
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Cristian Sanchez 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Diego Rossi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Huracan Buceo is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Huracan Buceo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Richard Pearson has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Huracan Buceo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“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 Huracan Buceo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Facundo Lemos 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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad2 Feb 2032
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Ferreira 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutJoaquín Ferreira loses the manager who believed in him
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Huracan Buceo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Martín Ríos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Huracan Buceo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 6 on 22 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Huracan Buceo is running low.
The terraces12 Jan 2032
The mood at Huracan Buceo has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Ignacio Neira 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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $12.1M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Huracan Buceo, another week without a signature from Leandro Canet.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Huracan Buceo can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Huracan Buceo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Huracan Buceo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Huracan Buceo have had the benefit of it.
Facundo Lemos 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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Huracan Buceo can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Huracan Buceo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
A loan enquiry to Rampla Juniors: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
0 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huracan Buceo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The terracesThe stands have heard the Andrés Caro talk too
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Huracan Buceo had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Huracan Buceo can pretend not to have heard.
Facundo Lemos 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Huracan Buceo asked and Plaza Colonia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Central Espanol 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Huracan Buceo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Huracan Buceo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Huracan Buceo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Facundo Lemos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Ferreira 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 manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Dario Bordón has his answer from Huracan Buceo; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Joaquín Ferreira's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Huracan Buceo is running low.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Huracan Buceo can pretend not to have heard.
Facundo Lemos 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.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Rodríguez 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Huracan Buceo told Jamilu Ndidi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Huracan Buceo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Huracan Buceo can pretend not to have heard.
Facundo Lemos 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 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.
Boardroom10 Nov 2031
124% of the income goes out in wages at Huracan Buceo
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.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Huracan Buceo, another week without a signature from Lucas Varela.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huracan Buceo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Huracan Buceo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
7 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huracan Buceo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Huracan Buceo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
22 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Huracan Buceo. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Huracan Buceo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Huracan Buceo can pretend not to have heard.
Facundo Lemos 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 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.
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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $12.3M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Huracan Buceo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Rodrigo Codevila may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Huracan Buceo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Ferreira 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.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Huracan Buceo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Huracan Buceo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Facundo Lemos 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 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Huracan Buceo, another week without a signature from Leandro Canet.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Huracan Buceo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Huracan Buceo would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leandro Canet will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Huracan Buceo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Juan Escobar has, at Huracan Buceo, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
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 manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
The dugout8 Sep 2031
Diego Serrano 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.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Agustín Giménez's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ignacio Schneider 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.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“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 Huracan Buceo, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Agustín Giménez is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Huracan Buceo, another week without a signature from Diego Serrano.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Huracan Buceo is running low.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Facundo Lemos 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Agustín Giménez has just signed for Huracan Buceo, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huracan Buceo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Huracan Buceo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Huracan Buceo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Huracan Buceo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Leandro Canet 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.
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 manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huracan Buceo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Huracan Buceo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Huracan Buceo can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Huracan Buceo can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Ferreira 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. Danubio have kept their man, and Huracan Buceo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Huracan Buceo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Huracan Buceo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The deal that would have taken Emanuel Etcheverry to Cerrito has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Huracan Buceo with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Facundo Lemos 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 Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom21 Jul 2031
206% of the income goes out in wages at Huracan Buceo
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.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Lautaro Gandulfo is in the works
The dugoutDario Bordón asks for a word with the manager
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Huracan Buceo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Huracan Buceo can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Parque del Plata waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Huracan Buceo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Huracan Buceo can pretend not to have heard.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Camilo Núñez and Huracan Buceo agree another 2 years.
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
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.
Huracan Buceo asked and Danubio said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Huracan Buceo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Huracan Buceo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Huracan Buceo can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Huracan Buceo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Facundo Lemos 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Huracan Buceo asked and Montevideo City Torque said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Huracan Buceo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Huracan Buceo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Huracan Buceo and Parque del Plata in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Huracan Buceo is running low.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Huracan Buceo can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Position 7 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Huracan Buceo can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Huracan Buceo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Facundo Lemos 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 gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Huracan Buceo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Salvador Martínez 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Huracan Buceo and Artigas in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad26 May 2031
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Ferreira 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.
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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $13.1M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Richard Pearson on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Huracan Buceo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Huracan Buceo and Deutscher FK, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.43, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings12 May 2031
Diego Bonilla was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.28. 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.
The dugout12 May 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Richard Pearson kept it short after the 4‑2 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The mood at Huracan Buceo has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom5 May 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Huracan Buceo
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Huracan Buceo can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Huracan Buceo can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Huracan Buceo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Facundo Lemos 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 shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Huracan Buceo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Facundo Lemos 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 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.
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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $13.1M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Something was said to Alex Monteiro and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Bella Italia next, and one man in the Huracan Buceo dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Huracan Buceo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Huracan Buceo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Parque del Plata had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 3‑3 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
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.
Position 8 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Huracan Buceo is running low.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Huracan Buceo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Facundo Lemos 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 gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Huracan Buceo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Facundo Lemos 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 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.
Boardroom31 Mar 2031
126% of the income goes out in wages at Huracan Buceo
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.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Salto next, and one man in the Huracan Buceo dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Leandro Canet trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luca Fofonka will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Huracan Buceo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Facundo Lemos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Ferreira 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.
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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Potencia the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Huracan Buceo will enjoy reviewing.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Huracan Buceo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings10 Mar 2031
A brace, and Diego Bonilla takes the afternoon — 8.46
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Diego Bonilla provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Huracan Buceo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Facundo Lemos 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Huracan Buceo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Juan Raffaelli. 2‑1 against Deutscher FK, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
BoardroomWages swallow 136% of the Huracan Buceo income
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Huracan Buceo can pretend not to have heard.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Huracan Buceo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings24 Feb 2031
Up for the corner, and Camilo Núñez delivers — 7.72
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Camilo Núñez scored, was marked 7.72, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Huracan Buceo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cristóbal Gómez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Huracan Buceo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
14 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Huracan Buceo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Huracan Buceo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Facundo Lemos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom17 Feb 2031
8 academy players handed senior numbers at Huracan Buceo
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Words at Huracan Buceo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Ferreira 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Lucas Garcia is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The mood at Huracan Buceo has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Huracan Buceo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Facundo Lemos 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 Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huracan Buceo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Huracan Buceo, another week without a signature from Staitham Bowen.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Huracan Buceo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huracan Buceo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Huracan Buceo have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
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. Huracan Buceo will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“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 Huracan Buceo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Huracan Buceo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Huracan Buceo told Salvador Martínez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huracan Buceo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Boardroom13 Jan 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Huracan Buceo
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Position 7 and 19 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The offer from Deportivo Colonia for Emanuel Etcheverry 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Huracan Buceo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Central Espanol have kept their man, and Huracan Buceo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Huracan Buceo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Facundo Lemos 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 gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Huracan Buceo asked and Montevideo City Torque said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The name of Emanuel Etcheverry has come up in conversations Huracan Buceo were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $13.0M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
In brief
SquadHuracan Buceo are still strangers to each other
The dugoutFacundo Lemos loses the manager who believed in him
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Huracan Buceo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Maximiliano Viquez 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracan Buceo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Huracan Buceo 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.
A loan enquiry to Central Espanol: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Rampla Juniors 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.