Marked for Dylan Tapia
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match14 Jun 2028
The season ends here for Belgrano
Argentinos Juniors go through. The table said this team was good enough for months and the format does not care what the table said, which is the argument every eliminated club has had with itself since playoffs were invented.
Market19 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sport Huancayo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Belgrano is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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 The request is on a desk at Belgrano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Franco Vázquez 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
José Luis Moretti 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.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Belgrano asked and Huracán said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market19 Jun 2028
The name of Bryan Reyna has come up in conversations Belgrano were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout19 Jun 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Belgrano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Ricca 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Apr 2028
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Belgrano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match19 Apr 2028
Belgrano march on in the cup
Madryn are out and Belgrano go through, 3‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
A brace, and Leandro Monzón takes the afternoon — 8.74
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Leandro Monzón provided it, and the 8.74 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad24 Apr 2028
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.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Dylan Tapia, 21, steals the show — 7.83
Marked 7.83 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market24 Apr 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 Belgrano, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Máximo Oses: 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.” Belgrano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Franco Vázquez 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.
Match22 Apr 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Belgrano did not have in the autumn.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Belgrano can pretend not to have heard.
Market28 Jun 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Deportes Limache had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
Bryan Reyna: 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.” Belgrano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market28 Jun 2027
Belgrano say no — this time
The offer from Coquimbo Unido for Matías Marín 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
The name of Cristian Colmán has come up in conversations Belgrano were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Belgrano have gone to Rosario Central with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Thiago Cardozo 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ian Ariza is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Belgrano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Vázquez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.