Marked for Valentino Crivelli
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Mar 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Agropecuario Argentino they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market18 Mar 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Agropecuario Argentino can pretend not to have heard.
Match16 Mar 2030
A 2‑1 win over Gimnasia y Esgrima, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.62, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.34, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Mar 2030
“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.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Luca Nupieri 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.
Market18 Mar 2030
The Milton Ramos story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Milton Ramos signs something — a contract at Agropecuario Argentino or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Mar 2030
“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 The request is on a desk at Agropecuario Argentino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Antonio Napolitano 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.
Player ratings4 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Player ratings4 Mar 2030
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Tempers went at Agropecuario Argentino this week. Nothing a hard session and a quiet word cannot repair, though the story got out all the same.
Squad4 Mar 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brian Blando, and the manager let it.
Match2 Mar 2030
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Gimnasia y Esgrima? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Player ratings4 Mar 2030
5.72 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Sep 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Federico Montiel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Agropecuario Argentino the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Milton Ramos 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.
Boardroom10 Sep 2029
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Marked 8.82 — 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.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Antonio Napolitano
7 goals and a season average of 7.31 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match8 Sep 2029
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad10 Sep 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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Danilo Actis 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 Agropecuario Argentino, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Feb 2029
There were 7 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.
Market12 Feb 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 Agropecuario Argentino can pretend not to have heard.
Market12 Feb 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Agropecuario Argentino is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match10 Feb 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Milton Ramos. 1‑0 against Central Norte, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.50, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Jorge Cabello 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.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad12 Feb 2029
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Nov 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
76 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Milton Ramos 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Oct 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 Agropecuario Argentino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Agropecuario Argentino is running low.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Antonio Napolitano 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.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Danilo Actis 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 Danilo Actis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Oct 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 Agropecuario Argentino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Milton Ramos 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 Agropecuario Argentino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Germán Salort asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Oct 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Agropecuario Argentino can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Oct 2028
104 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Antonio Napolitano 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
132 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
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 Agropecuario Argentino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Sep 2028
9 goals and a season average of 7.47. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match16 Sep 2028
A 2‑1 win over Nueva Chicago, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.88, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.34, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad18 Sep 2028
No place for Germán Salort on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Agropecuario Argentino pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market21 Aug 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.
Match19 Aug 2028
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Agropecuario Argentino are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Milton Ramos 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 Agropecuario Argentino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Aug 2028
A season average of 7.49 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
A performance of 9.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad21 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Germán Salort, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Aug 2028
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Jorge Valdez Chamorro will call it something else in private.
Match19 Aug 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Defensores leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Aug 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Milton Ramos 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 Agropecuario Argentino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Aug 2028
0‑1 to Mitre, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad7 Aug 2028
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alan Aguirre and Agropecuario Argentino agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Aug 2028
It involved Valentino Crivelli, it was loud enough to reach the car park, and it was over by lunch. Dressing rooms run hot; the ones that should worry you are the silent ones.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
A defender's afternoon for Braian Aranda
Defensive actions: 41. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Market19 Jun 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 Agropecuario Argentino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market19 Jun 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Agropecuario Argentino is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match17 Jun 2028
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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Milton Ramos 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.
Market19 Jun 2028
Business is business: Braian Rojas goes
Vélez paid $270.0K and Agropecuario Argentino took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Match17 Jun 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Agropecuario Argentino did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad19 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Germán Salort, and the manager let it.