The Nacional Sentinel
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Nacional
Sebastián Coates 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Rodrigo Martínez is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Nacional count the cost of losing Benjamín Núñez
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes Luis Mejía a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Nacional. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Agustín Rogel 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 Agustín Rogel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market28 Sep 2026
Emiliano de Oliveira leaves for nothing
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Emiliano de Oliveira leaves Nacional the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
In brief
- Market The Ignacio Suárez story refuses to die
- Squad The penny has dropped for Rubén Botta
- The dugout The manager comes out for Gastón Martirena