Román Pérez had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Liniers were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
4 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dock Sud this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dock Sud lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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; Maximiliano Rey recited it perfectly.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dock Sud can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Dock Sud have done the hard part with Comunicaciones, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Agustín Arias 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Aleks Pedinski has just signed for Dock Sud, and for once the answer mattered.
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Julián Herrera has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Banfield is saying, and nobody at Dock Sud is enjoying the guessing.
$680.0K was the most the club would pay and San Lorenzo were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Agustín Arias 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Dock Sud training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Heredia 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.
“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 Dock Sud, and it is not being withdrawn.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Nicolás Luján was one of the reasons people came, and $2.3M does not replace that by itself.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Dock Sud have done the hard part with Temperley, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dock Sud this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
This is not rotation. Federico Nicolaievsky has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Dock Sud is pretending otherwise.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Dock Sud training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Heredia 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.
“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 Dock Sud, 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 Dock Sud 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 Agustín Heredia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Iván Ojeda has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Iván Ojeda. 1‑0 against Deportivo Merlo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Julián Herrera has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Dock Sud and Villa Dálmine, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Elián Pizzi has just signed for Dock Sud, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
“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 Dock Sud, 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 Dock Sud 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 Agustín Heredia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dock Sud can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Marked 7.55. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dock Sud 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.
MC Alger arrived with $1.5M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
The offer from Rangers de Talca for Iván Ojeda 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.
Agustín Ávalos has gone, the accounts have $1.5M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Agustín Arias 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Dock Sud training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Heredia 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dock Sud can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: MC Alger have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Agustín Ávalos. The answer from Dock Sud has not changed — yet.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dock Sud have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Agustín Ávalos 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. River Plate have kept their man, and Dock Sud go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Dock Sud can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Boca Juniors is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Agustín Arias 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 Agustín Heredia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Dock Sud, 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 Dock Sud 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 Agustín Heredia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Julián Herrera could afford to be generous.
Agustín Arias 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 Braian Álvarez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Dock Sud have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Sebastián Vivas has come out of that comparison in the side, and Dock Sud have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
David Achucarro is 37 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dock Sud have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Agustín Arias 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 9.66 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
It finished 3‑1, and it was Sebastián Vivas’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Dock Sud.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Dock Sud training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Heredia 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 particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Excursionistas tried to reorganise, Dock Sud did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Julián Herrera on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutDylan Arias knocks on the manager’s door
The words a physio says slowly. 52 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dock Sud 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 Dock Sud 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.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad28 Feb 2028
5 new faces, and Dock Sud are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The words a physio says slowly. 76 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
5 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Iván Ojeda is a Dock Sud player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Agustín Arias 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.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Agustín Heredia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dock Sud asked and Union Magdalena said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Julián Marcioni 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.
$55.0K was the most the club would pay and Almirante Brown were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Barracas Central paid $140.0K and Colón took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Colón, and 0 appearances in 0 say he has earned the hearing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Julián Marcioni trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Colón 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 Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Rasmussen 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.
Colón asked and Talleres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nehemías Portillo 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.
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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Ignacio Roldán is in the works
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Colón have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Colón had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Independiente Rivadavia pay $690.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Rasmussen 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sacachispas waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Colón 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 Colón 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 Colón 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Colón, another week without a signature from Matías Budiño.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Gian Piaggio is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
In brief
The dugoutMatías Budiño knocks on the manager’s door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colón 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 Federico Rasmussen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jonás Ravano 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Darío Sarmiento trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Agustín Toledo signs something — a contract at Colón or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Colón 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.
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thiago Fusco will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colón 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 Colón 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 Federico Rasmussen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Colón, and 6 appearances in 43 say he has earned the hearing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nicolás Thaller trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Iván Ojeda is on it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Colón will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón 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 Darío Sarmiento 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 Colón, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bautista Maillier will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Godoy 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
“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 Colón, and 7 appearances in 37 say he has earned the hearing.
6 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colón 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 Colón 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 Matías Godoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Estoril Praia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nicolás Thaller trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Federico Rasmussen’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Colón needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Estoril Praia can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mafra waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Estoril Praia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer went to Universitatea Cluj this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Estoril Praia asked and Boca 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estoril Praia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bautista Maillier will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Bautista Maillier has agreed terms with Brown de Adrogué for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
16 goals in 25 games at Antofagasta — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Colón updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Colón have gone to Almagro 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.
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 watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Estoril Praia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The offer went to Sporting CP this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Estoril Praia asked and Botafogo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fernando Medrano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Estoril Praia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.