Marked for Benjamín Zuqui
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout8 Oct 2029
Nicolás Moreno: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Deportes La Serena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market8 Oct 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matteo Cucinotta will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Deportes La Serena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad8 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportes La Serena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Oct 2029
A move Bernabé Guzmán would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Bernabé Guzmán is living that version at Deportes La Serena, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market8 Oct 2029
Luca Feler has his eye on Europe
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Deportes La Serena can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Words at Deportes La Serena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Stefanelli 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 dugout8 Oct 2029
The manager makes an example of Benjamín Zuqui
“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.
Market8 Oct 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad8 Oct 2029
8 new faces, and Deportes La Serena 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Oct 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Deportes La Serena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market1 Oct 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportes La Serena can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Tomás Alarcón and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Oct 2029
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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Nicolás Stefanelli 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 dugout1 Oct 2029
“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.
Market1 Oct 2029
“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 dugout1 Oct 2029
Something was said to Miguel Acosta and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
Gonzalo Jara knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Deportes La Serena, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 May 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market14 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Deportes La Serena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 May 2029
Tomás Alarcón 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.
Match12 May 2029
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad14 May 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Stefanelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 May 2029
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.
The dugout14 May 2029
The manager makes an example of Benjamín Zuqui
“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.
Market14 May 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Feb 2029
Rodolfo Rodríguez damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Market19 Feb 2029
Isaac Venecia hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportes La Serena can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
José Sanhueza: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Deportes La Serena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market19 Feb 2029
Alexander Oroz has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Deportes La Serena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom19 Feb 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Alexander Oroz 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Tomás Alarcón 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Stefanelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom19 Feb 2029
9 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
The terraces19 Feb 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Nov 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Deportes La Serena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market13 Nov 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Deportes La Serena, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
Gonzalo Jara faces a manager he fell out with
They have worked together before and it did not end well. Nobody at Deportes La Serena expects the new manager to have forgotten, least of all Gonzalo Jara.
Squad13 Nov 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportes La Serena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Deportes La Serena is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Gonzalo Escalante 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 dugout13 Nov 2028
Yoel Gerez gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
Benjamín Zuqui knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Benjamín Zuqui trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Yoel Gerez wants out of the dugout
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Deportes La Serena will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Sep 2028
Position 16 on 18 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.
Market18 Sep 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market18 Sep 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ezequiel Moschen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Deportes La Serena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match16 Sep 2028
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Deportes La Serena has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom18 Sep 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ezequiel Moschen 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportes La Serena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Kevin Castaño 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 dugout18 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Benjamín Zuqui, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Jul 2028
A move Benjamín Zuqui would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Benjamín Zuqui is living that version at Deportes La Serena, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match22 Jul 2028
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.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 9 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market24 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Deportes La Serena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $166.9K — a club that wants Williams Sáez enough to be asked twice.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Arian Pardo has agreed terms with Deportes Recoleta for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
The offer went to Rangers de Talca 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Luis Acevedo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportes La Serena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match8 Jul 2028
Racing will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Patronato were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.46 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market10 Jul 2028
Only the photograph left for Lucas González
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucas González will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Patronato the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match8 Jul 2028
Nobody wants to play Patronato right now
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Market10 Jul 2028
Huracán come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Patronato did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Juan Pablo Barinaga has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Patronato is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Patronato had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at UAI Urquiza, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Patronato
Juan Pablo Barinaga 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.
Market10 Jul 2028
San Martín SJ pay $58.0K, 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Apr 2028
Ezequiel Cohen damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Market24 Apr 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Gabriel Díaz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match22 Apr 2028
Still nobody has beaten Patronato
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad24 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Patronato
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Barinaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
This is not rotation. Maverick Müller has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Patronato is pretending otherwise.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Marked 8.10. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Patronato.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Franco Meritello is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Mar 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Patronato, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
This is not rotation. Juan Pablo Barinaga has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Patronato is pretending otherwise.
Market20 Mar 2028
Only the photograph left for Lucas González
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucas González will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Patronato the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match18 Mar 2028
8 matches without a win, and then this, against Racing. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Gabriel Díaz in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Patronato this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Juan Pablo Barinaga 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 terraces20 Mar 2028
He is 22 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.
Match18 Mar 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alex Costa Palomo. 1‑0 against Racing, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Mar 2028
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match8 Mar 2028
The cup run ends for Patronato
1‑2 against Morón, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market13 Mar 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Patronato, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 32. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match11 Mar 2028
No end in sight to Patronato's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Patronato has to find a result from somewhere.
Market13 Mar 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Rivasseau will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Patronato the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Gabriel Díaz 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Patronato
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Barinaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad13 Mar 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Feb 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match26 Feb 2028
No end in sight to Patronato's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Patronato has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Patronato training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Barinaga 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 dugout28 Feb 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad28 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Patronato this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Franco Meritello trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
Fernando Moreyra dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market27 Dec 2027
“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 Patronato, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market27 Dec 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Patronato people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
This is not rotation. Juan Pablo Barinaga has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Patronato is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets27 Dec 2027
Everything agreed with San Lorenzo, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets27 Dec 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Banfield is saying, and nobody at Patronato is enjoying the guessing.
Squad27 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Patronato
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Barinaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets27 Dec 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. San Lorenzo have kept their man, and Patronato go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad27 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Patronato this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets27 Dec 2027
A loan enquiry to Sacachispas: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.