Marked for Bruno Solotar
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Sep 2028
Veres march on in the cup
Kudrivka are out and Veres go through, 0‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match30 Aug 2028
Veres through in the cup
A 3‑0 win over Kudrivka, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad4 Sep 2028
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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Tempers go at Veres
Wesley Pomba 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 ratings4 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
A performance of 9.47 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Defensive actions: 21. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladyslav Felipovych, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Aug 2028
No end in sight to Veres's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Veres has to find a result from somewhere.
Market7 Aug 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Veres
Vladyslav Sharai 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 ratings7 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Konstantinos Stamoulis commits to Veres for another 4 years.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Veres are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
A performance of 8.87 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Marked 8.81 — 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmytro Murashko, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
Artem Karavayev has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Veres can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad5 Jun 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 Veres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Serhii Davydov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
$4.5M taken back off the Veres table
What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.
Market5 Jun 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Vitalii Boiko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad5 Jun 2028
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Veres would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market27 Dec 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 Almagro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad27 Dec 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 Almagro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom27 Dec 2027
Wages eat 107% of everything Almagro earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market29 Nov 2027
Bruno Solotar 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 Almagro can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Nov 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 Almagro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
124% of the income goes out in wages at Almagro
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Loan watch29 Nov 2027
“I watch every Almagro game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Zira runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad29 Nov 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Gino Barbieri 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 Gino Barbieri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 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 Almagro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Sep 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 Almagro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match18 Sep 2027
Alvarado left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Erik Núñez, and the manager let it.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Pablo Palacio is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.20 with 2 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 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 Almagro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 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 Almagro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.91 on the card, and the Almagro support went home talking about one name.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
Wages eat 87% of everything Almagro earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad12 Jul 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.
Match10 Jul 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Güemes will be the happier side with the point.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Marked 5.65, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Apr 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.
Match19 Apr 2027
Almagro are in real trouble now
Position 16, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Delfor Minervino 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 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gonzalo Asis, and the manager let it.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.70, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
Wages eat 94% of everything Almagro earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match17 Apr 2027
It needed Enzo Martínez to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Ferro Carril Oeste, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Almagro, and both men came out saying it was fine.