The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Nicolas Sierralta has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The terraces7 May 2029
Supporters organise against the Curicó Unido board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Curicó Unido they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Milton Castagna 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Curicó Unido training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronald de la Fuente 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.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Curicó Unido, and both men came out saying it was fine.
1 for Alejandro Chiavetto, marked 7.98, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Curicó Unido 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 Curicó Unido this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 1‑0 win over Deportes Temuco, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Martín Espinoza'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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Nicolas Sierralta on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Curicó Unido lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Milton Castagna 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 Ronald de la Fuente 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
6 new faces, and Curicó Unido 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.
4 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Santiago Wanderers next, and one man in the Curicó Unido dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Curicó Unido have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Curicó Unido can pretend not to have heard.
Milton Castagna 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.
Curicó Unido asked and Universidad Catolica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Curicó Unido, another week without a signature from Alejandro Chiavetto.
Boardroom11 Dec 2028
97% of the income goes out in wages at Curicó Unido
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.
A loan enquiry to Universidad de Chile: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Curicó Unido they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Francisco Oliver and Curicó Unido agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Curicó Unido this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Curicó Unido training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Figueroa 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Curicó Unido, another week without a signature from Alejandro Chiavetto.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Milton Castagna 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 Ignacio Figueroa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The offer from Doxa for Joaquín Giudice 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 Curicó Unido 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 Curicó Unido this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Lucas Medina has, at Curicó Unido, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Curicó Unido training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francisco Oliver 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“I watch every Curicó Unido game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ñublense runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
The dugoutHalf-satisfied: Luis Meneses on the draw
The mood at Curicó Unido 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.
Milton Castagna and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Audax Italiano have kept their man, and Curicó Unido go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ronald Guzmán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Luis Meneses was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Curicó Unido dressing room was either.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Curicó Unido can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Curicó Unido people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Curicó Unido 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 Curicó Unido this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Curicó Unido asked and Coquimbo Unido said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Curicó Unido training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronald Guzmán 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.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad15 May 2028
Diego Torres 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Curicó Unido training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronald Guzmán 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.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Alberto Stegman has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Curicó Unido.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Luis Meneses was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Curicó Unido dressing room was either.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Curicó Unido lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Curicó Unido will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Curicó Unido have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Alejandro Chiavetto has just signed for Curicó Unido, and for once the answer mattered.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Curicó Unido is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ronald de la Fuente 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Colegiales 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 Colegiales have had the benefit of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colegiales they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Alejandro Chiavetto 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 easiest signature of my career.” Joaquín Sevegnani and Colegiales agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colegiales they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
34 appearances at Persib and the goals have stopped going in. Colegiales lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Malagueño 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 Colegiales, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Franco Hanashiro 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 Franco Malagueño was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Franco Hanashiro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lautaro Gordillo signs something — a contract at Colegiales or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Colegiales 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.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Colegiales would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
Ignacio Vallejos 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 Franco Hanashiro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Colegiales 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 Lautaro Gordillo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Colegiales, another week without a signature from Alejandro Chiavetto.
The terraces15 Nov 2027
Supporters make their feelings known about Lucio Castillo
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Colegiales would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
San Martín de Burzaco watched Lucio Castillo again at the weekend, and this time they did not bother hiding it. Clubs only stop hiding when they want the price to start moving.
Enzo Trinidad and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Colegiales training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Hanashiro 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.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lautaro Gordillo signs something — a contract at Colegiales or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
90 minutes played. Mauro Albertengo found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Central Córdoba SdE went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colegiales can pretend not to have heard.
Ignacio Vallejos 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.
Marked 7.46 on 13 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Colegiales training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Malagueño 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mauro Albertengo. 2‑1 against Central Córdoba SdE, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lautaro Gordillo provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Colegiales can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Colegiales training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Malagueño 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lautaro Gordillo. 2‑0 against Arsenal, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
12 clean sheets from 29 appearances at Persib. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” José García on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Belgrano is saying, and nobody at Colegiales is enjoying the guessing.
Colegiales have gone to Racing Club with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Enzo Trinidad 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.
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.