Marked for Mateo Serra
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match13 Feb 2027
3‑0, and Bruno Nasta took the headlines on an afternoon when everything San Miguel tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
A brace, and Bruno Nasta takes the afternoon — 8.61
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bruno Nasta provided it, and the 8.61 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Daniel Sappa 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Tiago Gordillo
“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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Lucas Brochero was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at San Miguel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Díaz Grassano 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
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.” Maximiliano García, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
A one-man rearguard from Daniel Sappa
There were 6 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.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The San Miguel board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at San Miguel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Juárez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match6 Feb 2027
1‑2 to Atlanta, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dixon Rentería, and the manager let it.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
San Miguel board go back on their word
Something was promised, a deadline passed, and it did not arrive. Trust inside a football club is built over years and spent in an afternoon.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Daniel Juárez gets picked when it counts
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 Daniel Juárez is on it.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
San Miguel turn down the training-ground plan
It is the quietest way a club tells you what its ambitions are. The money was asked for, the money was refused, and the people who work there every day now know exactly where they stand.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Jonathan Bay 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at San Miguel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Juárez 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Iván Ramírez is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at San Miguel has been clear about where Iván Ramírez stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Mateo Serra
“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 dugout18 Jan 2027
Matías Benítez 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 San Miguel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Jan 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 San Miguel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Jonathan Bay 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at San Miguel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Juárez 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
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.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Lucio Pérez
“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.
Market11 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Mateo Serra: “I am not a substitute”
“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 San Miguel will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Iván Ramírez 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 San Miguel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market11 Jan 2027
Damián Adín linked with a move away
The name of Damián Adín keeps appearing in other people's back pages. San Miguel say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Oct 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Miguel can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Daniel Sappa 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 San Miguel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market12 Oct 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jorge Bruno has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bautista Ponce has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at San Miguel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Ferrero 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Kevin Ceceri
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. San Miguel will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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 dugout12 Oct 2026
Iván Ramírez has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Iván Ramírez has written the date down.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Alexis Cruz 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 Alexis Cruz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.