Marked for Matteo Copelotti
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Sep 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 The request is on a desk at Progreso, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Progreso
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Oliva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emiliano Álvarez, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
24 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Mario García 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 Progreso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market6 Sep 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.
Loan watch6 Sep 2027
“I did not go to Deportivo Maldonado to sit and watch. I want to come back to Progreso and fight for my place.” 9 appearances in 36 matches say the rest.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Diego Sánchez
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Diego Sánchez has come out of that comparison in the side, and Progreso have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
Mauro Martín has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Progreso 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market16 Aug 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 The request is on a desk at Progreso, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market16 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Paredes waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Progreso is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Progreso may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market16 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gianfranco Trasante will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Progreso the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market16 Aug 2027
Perth Glory come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Progreso did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Christian Oliva 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Ramiro Luna 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 ratings16 Aug 2027
Ayrton Cougo beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bruno Veglio, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jul 2027
“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.
Market26 Jul 2027
The bid was some way short and Progreso did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market26 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Progreso is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Deadline passes with 8 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Progreso until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market26 Jul 2027
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Wanderers moved on, Matteo Copelotti reports back to Progreso, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Progreso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Oliva 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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Progreso asked and Boca Juniors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jul 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 Progreso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Jun 2027
There were 88 minutes on the clock and Rampla Juniors had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Progreso did not stop to explain themselves.
Market21 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Progreso people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market21 Jun 2027
“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.
The dugout21 Jun 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Only the photograph left for Mauro Martín
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mauro Martín will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Progreso the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The offer went to Albion 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Emiliano Álvarez 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Progreso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Oliva 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match1 May 2027
No end in sight to Progreso's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Progreso has to find a result from somewhere.
Market3 May 2027
Only the photograph left for Marcos Paolini
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcos Paolini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Progreso the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 May 2027
Christian Oliva 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.
Squad3 May 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 Progreso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout3 May 2027
“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.
Squad3 May 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Agustín Codagnone commits to Progreso for another 4 years.
Loan watch3 May 2027
“I did not go to Deportivo Maldonado to sit and watch. I want to come back to Progreso and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 18 matches say the rest.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Marked 7.62 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Progreso had the best player on the pitch.
Squad3 May 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Matteo Copelotti 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Progreso may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Progreso will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market1 Mar 2027
“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.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Progreso — 7.76
1 for Bruno Veglio, marked 7.76, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Agustín Pinheiro and Progreso agree another 4 years.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Progreso
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Oliva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Progreso
Gonzalo Silva 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.
Match27 Feb 2027
Rampla Juniors made Progreso work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Adrián Colombino
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Progreso lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Progreso will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market11 Jan 2027
Only the photograph left for Marcos Paolini
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcos Paolini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Progreso the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market11 Jan 2027
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Cerro moved on, Carlos Techera reports back to Progreso, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Progreso
Emiliano Álvarez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A move Facundo Centurión 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. Facundo Centurión is living that version at Progreso, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“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 dugout11 Jan 2027
Ayrton Cougo 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
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
57 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Progreso lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Progreso will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market4 Jan 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Uruguay Montevideo had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Progreso had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Progreso
Emiliano Álvarez 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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market4 Jan 2027
14 games and 8 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.
Market4 Jan 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Progreso will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
The dugout4 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Trento lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
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.
Match19 Dec 2026
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Match19 Dec 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Matteo Copelotti’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Trento.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A mark of 7.74, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Nicola Salvatore could afford to be generous.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Daniele Triacca
“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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The plan did not have a place for Marco Fossati
Nobody at Trento is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Progreso lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Progreso will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market7 Dec 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Progreso have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market7 Dec 2026
“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 targets7 Dec 2026
$34.0K on the table at Plaza Colonia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Albion have kept their man, and Progreso go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
$130.0K was the most the club would pay and Mar de Fondo were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Progreso
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emiliano Álvarez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Progreso
Gonzalo Silva 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Trento lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“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.
Match5 Dec 2026
5 matches without a win for Trento
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Trento are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Trento
Pietro Candelari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A mark of 7.93, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Filippo Frison, and the manager let it.
Match5 Dec 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
Adrián Colombino damages knee ligaments — 94 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 94 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Progreso will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Emiliano Álvarez 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.
Market30 Nov 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Agustín Pinheiro wants continental football; whether Progreso can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad30 Nov 2026
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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 Juan Sebastián Rivero is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Trento's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Trento has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
At 22 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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Match28 Nov 2026
Trento caught on 89 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Lumezzane scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Match28 Nov 2026
It needed Matteo Copelotti to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Lumezzane, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
101 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Progreso lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Progreso will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market23 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for David Santo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Santo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Progreso the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Progreso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“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 dugout23 Nov 2026
Agustín Pinheiro 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
Crisis
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Trento
Pietro Candelari 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 dugout23 Nov 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
0‑1 to Cittadella, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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 Nicola Salvatore to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The plan did not have a place for Marco Fossati
Nobody at Trento is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“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 Trento will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Trento squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 6. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Adrián Colombino
123 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Progreso lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Progreso may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market2 Nov 2026
Federico Ruiz 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 Progreso can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gonzalo Silva and Progreso agree another 3 years.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Gonzalo Silva 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Progreso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Pinheiro 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Federico Andueza, and the manager let it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Agustín Ocampo 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match31 Oct 2026
8 unbeaten for Trento
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Trento did not have in the autumn.
Match31 Oct 2026
Carpi made Trento work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.75 on the card, and the Trento support went home talking about one name.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
A promise honoured at Trento
Something was said to Christian Capone and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Nicola Dalmonte
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Zylyf Muça
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Riccardo Fiamozzi has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
131 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Progreso lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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.
Market26 Oct 2026
David Santo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Progreso they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Emiliano Álvarez 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Progreso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout26 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Trento lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match24 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Trento
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.
Match24 Oct 2026
A point taken on 90 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Trento
Clarence Corallo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Trento are still strangers to each other
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 7.60. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match24 Oct 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Nicola Dalmonte 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.” Nicola Salvatore chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Adrián Colombino
138 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Progreso lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Progreso may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Facundo de León is a better footballer than he was
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.
Market19 Oct 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Agustín Requena will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Progreso the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Emiliano Álvarez 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Progreso
Gonzalo Silva and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Michele Tommasi
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trento lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.92 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Mattia Maffei is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Trento
Pietro Candelari 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match17 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Trento
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.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
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.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Matteo Copelotti’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Trento.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Progreso
Renzo Bacchia 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Progreso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emiliano Álvarez 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of José Vanetta
“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.
Market5 Oct 2026
“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 dugout5 Oct 2026
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 Juan Sebastián Rivero is on it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Trento
Pietro Candelari 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“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 Trento will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Match19 Sep 2026
Point won or two lost for Trento?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Novara? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Marco Fossati’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Trento needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Juan Sebastián Rivero commits to Progreso for another 4 years.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Emiliano Álvarez 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Gonzalo Silva 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 dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Diego Sánchez
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Agustín Ocampo 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 Ocampo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
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.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ayrton Cougo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Progreso needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Progreso, another week without a signature from Agustín Requena.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 Trento, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 11 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Trento until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 2026
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Trento will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Trento, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Christian Capone has moved up it.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mattia Sangalli’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Trento needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Trento would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market7 Sep 2026
A season-long audition: Progreso still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Trento's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 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 Trento can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Trento asked and Schalke 04 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 Aug 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Trento
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Nicola Salvatore to a room that had heard them before.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Progreso: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑6 by Defensor Sporting, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market24 Aug 2026
Progreso say no — this time
The offer from Gubbio for Matteo Copelotti was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Nahuel López at 19 — 7.95
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nahuel López did not need any: 7.95, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.86 for the rest of it.
Market24 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Agustín Requena will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Progreso the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Agustín Requena has agreed terms with Liverpool Montevideo for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Match22 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Progreso and Defensor Sporting, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.