Marked for Enzo Brizuela
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Mar 2028
Danilo Lerda is the hero from the spot
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Danilo Lerda: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match15 Mar 2028
Cup progress for Albion
A 2‑2 win over Boston River, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match18 Mar 2028
Nowhere to hide for Albion
0‑6 against Wanderers, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market20 Mar 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.
Market20 Mar 2028
Renzo Barbieri has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Albion they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match18 Mar 2028
The wait goes on for Albion
6 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Albion
Nahuel Roldán 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 ratings20 Mar 2028
Marked 8.78 — 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 ratings20 Mar 2028
A performance of 8.73 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
In brief
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Squad
The manager makes an example of Briam Acosta
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Albion dressing room in a hurry
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Squad
Nahuel Roldán asks for a word with the manager
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Jan 2028
Albion say no — this time
The offer from Tacuarembo for Renzo Barbieri 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad10 Jan 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 Albion this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jan 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Santiago Costa 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.
Market10 Jan 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Agustín Pereira signs something — a contract at Albion or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Nov 2027
Agustín Vera 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 Albion this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Carlos Airala 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Enzo Brizuela, and the manager let it.
In brief
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Squad
A wage question at Albion
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Jul 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 Albion, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 23 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Enzo Brizuela and Albion agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Albion
Santiago Costa 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 ratings5 Jul 2027
A performance of 9.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad5 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Carlos Airala
“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.
Match3 Jul 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Agustín Vera. 1‑0 against Wanderers, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Defensive actions: 19. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Albion
Sebastián Jaume 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
56 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Andrés Romero 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 Albion, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom14 Dec 2026
Silverware for Albion
They will talk about this season in this town for a long time. The trophy comes home with the squad, and the route is already agreed.
Boardroom14 Dec 2026
Albion are going up
Promotion, confirmed and mathematical, and a town that will not sleep much tonight. Whatever else this season had in it, it ends a division higher than it began.
Market14 Dec 2026
$850.0K from Wanderers for Hernán Toledo. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Albion
Sebastián Jaume 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ezequiel Burdin and Albion agree another 4 years.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Sebastián Jaume
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Talleres's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Talleres has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Matías Catalán 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
0‑2 to Newell's Old Boys, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Daniel Ribera
“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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market14 Sep 2026
“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.
Market14 Sep 2026
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Talleres money.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A mark of 5.61 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A wage question at Talleres
Guido Herrera has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.