“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout2 Jul 2029
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 1‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Joel Abregu 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Temperley they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Ayunta 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.
Lautaro Torres 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
Something was said to Franco Tirotta and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Temperley they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Ayunta 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 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.
Joel Abregu 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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
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 Rodrigo Stocco is on it.
Sacachispas next, and one man in the Temperley dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad14 May 2029
Franco Ayunta 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alejandro Melo. 2‑1 against Tristán Suárez, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Lucas Gaona 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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 Lucas Gaona is on it.
Brown de Adrogué next, and one man in the Temperley dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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 Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Franco Ayunta 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.
Joel Abregu 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.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Temperley lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Temperley they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley 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 Franco Ayunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Franco Ayunta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Temperley dressing room was either.
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Temperley is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Franco Ayunta 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lorenzo Monti signs something — a contract at Temperley or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutJoel Abregu has become a man the manager trusts
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Temperley lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Temperley they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Ayunta 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.
At 23 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.
Lucas Gaona 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.
Marked 7.75 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Temperley had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Interim Coach, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Temperley lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Ayunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 words a physio says slowly. 54 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 had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 111th minute. Gimnasia y Esgrima will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lautaro Torres will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Temperley the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Temperley interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Temperley they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Lorenzo Monti 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
500 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Ayunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
$100.0K settles it between the clubs for Mateo Carmona
Racing Club have accepted the money. What Temperley do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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 phone has started ringing about Gonzalo Vallejos again, and this time the name on the line is Almirante Brown. Temperley are listening politely and promising nothing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Franco Ayunta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“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 Temperley, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Temperley people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deal with Belgrano 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.
Temperley have gone to San Lorenzo 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley 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.
“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; Temperley are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Temperley, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley 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 Rodrigo Stocco is on it.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Nicolás Molina’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Temperley and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Franco Benítez wants continental football; whether Temperley can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Franco Ayunta 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.
Rodrigo Dubó 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Francisco Silva is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alejo Fernández trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Francisco Silva arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
Franco Ayunta 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Benítez 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. Temperley told Franco Benítez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Temperley can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Ayunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Lautaro Torres 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lorenzo Monti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Temperley will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Ayunta 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 Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Temperley, and 7 appearances in 36 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 Franco Ayunta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bautista Fernández will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Temperley the goodbyes have quietly begun.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Central Norte were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by 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.
“I watch every Temperley game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nea Salamis runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Matthias Weber, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bautista Fernández will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Temperley the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Franco Ayunta commits to Temperley for another 4 years.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Ayunta 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“Another season, another badge, another dressing room to win over. I would like one pre-season at Temperley where somebody actually looks at me.” He belongs to Cobresal until the spell ends; the argument is with the club that owns him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Temperley 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 Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Minute 90, against Brown de Adrogué, 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.
“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; Temperley are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Temperley told Lucas Angelini something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It needed Nicolás Molina to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Brown de Adrogué, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Temperley, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Matthias Weber after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Temperley will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Lorenzo Monti 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 Ayunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to Kecskeméti TE to sit and watch. I want to come back to Temperley and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 18 matches say the rest.
The dugout15 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Matthias Weber to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
A 1‑0 win over Agropecuario Argentino, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Matthias Weber on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Two goals and a mark of 7.73 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Franco Benítez wants continental football; whether Temperley can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“Three loans in three years. At some point a club has to decide if I am their player or their asset.” The spell at Cobresal continues; the message travels home.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Chacarita Juniors were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nicolás Molina. 1‑0 against Chacarita Juniors, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alejo Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7.70, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Temperley had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Matthias Weber, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Elías Bogado
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.
Nobody at Temperley 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.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Temperley lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Lucas Gaona 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.
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 Rodrigo Stocco is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Temperley. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Temperley lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Bautista Fernández obliged against San Martín. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Temperley.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Temperley game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Acassuso runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Matías Calzón 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nicolás Molina. 1‑0 against Tristán Suárez, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Lucas Gaona 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Temperley can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Franco Ayunta 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 dugout28 Feb 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Matthias Weber chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Almirante Brown defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Mitre in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Temperley will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Nicolás Demartini was one of the reasons people came, and $6.2M does not replace that by itself.
Temperley have gone to Almirante Brown 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.
Temperley asked and Almirante Brown said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Lorenzo Monti 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 name of Gonzalo Vallejos has come up in conversations Temperley were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Ayunta 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.
In brief
The dugoutFranco Ayunta knocks on the manager's door
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Temperley will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Temperley, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Almirante Brown 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Franco Ayunta 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.
Lisandro Morrone 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.
“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 Temperley, and 0 appearances in 1 say he has earned the hearing.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Temperley know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Central Norte waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Temperley is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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 Temperley have had the benefit of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Gimnasia y Tiro; Temperley go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story 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 Temperley 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Temperley, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Temperley has been clear about where Bautista Fernández stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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 Temperley, 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. Temperley have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deal with Estudiantes 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Franco Benítez wants continental football; whether Temperley can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Ayunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Lisandro Morrone 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.
“I watch every Temperley game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sacachispas runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Huracán have accepted the money. What Temperley do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Temperley is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Sacachispas paid $510.0K and Temperley took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerónimo Tomasetti 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.
Franco Ayunta 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 Nicolás Molina trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and UTC waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Temperley is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Temperley they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Melo 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Temperley is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Sacachispas will make the call about Marcos Echeverría this week. Temperley have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nicolás Demartini wants continental football; whether Temperley can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Melo 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.
“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 Temperley, and 15 appearances in 47 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Lucas Angelini'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 shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Temperley is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Marcos Echeverría 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 Lorenzo Monti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The terraces15 Nov 2027
Supporters make their feelings known about Nicolás Molina
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Temperley would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
Where he used to play does most of his talking for him at Temperley. The room defers to it, the kids study it, and the only thing that can puncture it is a bad month.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Temperley 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 Temperley is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Melo 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Temperley, another week without a signature from Lorenzo Monti.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lorenzo Monti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerónimo Tomasetti 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.
“I watch every Temperley game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sacachispas runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Lucas Gaona 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.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Temperley have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Franco Ayunta signs something — a contract at Temperley or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Temperley may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Melo 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.
Julián Carrasco 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Temperley can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Temperley, and both men came out saying it was fine.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Nicolás Molina decided otherwise. San Martín SJ had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Position 2 on 61 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Temperley they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Nicolás Molina was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.80. 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.
A 4‑2 win over San Martín SJ, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Temperley did not have in the autumn.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Melo 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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Nicolás Molina will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Temperley escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.98 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Melo 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Temperley pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Temperley is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Valentín Díaz 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerónimo Tomasetti 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.
Franco Ayunta 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.
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nicolás Molina provided it, and the 8.57 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 Temperley they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Temperley and Morón, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Temperley will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Franco Ayunta 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.
Marcos Echeverría 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Matthias Weber chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nicolás Molina provided it, and the 8.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Franco Ayunta wants continental football; whether Temperley can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ezequiel Mastrolía 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 earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Matthias Weber on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.