Marked for Jorge De Asis
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom15 Dec 2031
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Boardroom15 Dec 2031
Mathematically certain, and nobody in this town is going to bed early. Whatever else happened this season, it finishes a division above where it started.
Market15 Dec 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Central Córdoba SdE people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market15 Dec 2031
Daniel Barrea 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 Central Córdoba SdE can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Santiago Moyano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market15 Dec 2031
A conversation is coming this week. Central Córdoba SdE will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Barrea 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 dugout15 Dec 2031
Jorge De Asis 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 dugout15 Dec 2031
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Bautista Cejas has written the date down.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Dec 2031
A fracture rules Juan Martín Ríos out for 22 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Central Córdoba SdE will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market1 Dec 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Central Córdoba SdE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Daniel Barrea and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Varaldo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market1 Dec 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Central Córdoba SdE know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout1 Dec 2031
Joaquín Espina has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Central Córdoba SdE 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Nov 2031
Jorge De Asis breaks a bone — 20 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market3 Nov 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Central Córdoba SdE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad3 Nov 2031
Santiago Moyano 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.
Squad3 Nov 2031
Daniel Barrea 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.
The dugout3 Nov 2031
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.
Market3 Nov 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Central Córdoba SdE know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Oct 2031
Jorge De Asis breaks a bone — 27 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match27 Oct 2031
94 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Santiago Moyano 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.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Barrea 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 dugout27 Oct 2031
The manager makes an example of Jorge De Asis
“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
Upbeat
Squad20 Oct 2031
A fracture rules Jorge De Asis out for 34 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Central Córdoba SdE will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market20 Oct 2031
“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 dugout20 Oct 2031
“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.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Daniel Barrea 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.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Varaldo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
Jorge De Asis 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 Jorge De Asis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad15 Sep 2031
Daniel Barrea is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.80 with 35 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match13 Sep 2031
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Estudiantes, and it could have been more.
Player ratings15 Sep 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.90, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings15 Sep 2031
A brace, and Jorge De Asis takes the afternoon — 9.33
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jorge De Asis provided it, and the 9.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad15 Sep 2031
23 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Bautista Cejas has given nobody the chance.
Match13 Sep 2031
8 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Match13 Sep 2031
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad15 Sep 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Central Córdoba SdE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Barrea was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Aug 2031
Defences have started doubling up on Daniel Barrea
29 goals and a season average of 7.70 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Market25 Aug 2031
Daniel Barrea 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 Central Córdoba SdE can pretend not to have heard.
Match23 Aug 2031
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 11 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Player ratings25 Aug 2031
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad25 Aug 2031
José Gómez 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.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Barrea 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.
Match23 Aug 2031
1‑3 to San Telmo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Looking ahead25 Aug 2031
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Match23 Aug 2031
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Daniel Barrea had Central Córdoba SdE level again within 1 minutes, and San Telmo never got to play with a lead at all.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match16 Aug 2031
11 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad18 Aug 2031
28 goals and a season average of 7.70. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match16 Aug 2031
6‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad18 Aug 2031
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings18 Aug 2031
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match16 Aug 2031
6 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Daniel Barrea 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.
Match16 Aug 2031
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Central Córdoba SdE and Central Norte, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Varaldo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match9 Aug 2031
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Central Córdoba SdE have 10 straight wins of it.
Squad11 Aug 2031
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Defences have started doubling up on Daniel Barrea
24 goals and a season average of 7.64 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad11 Aug 2031
20 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Market11 Aug 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Central Córdoba SdE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match9 Aug 2031
5 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Santiago Moyano 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 ratings11 Aug 2031
Ninety minutes of Daniel Barrea at his very best
Marked 10.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Central Córdoba SdE.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 Jul 2031
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match7 Jul 2031
First, on 64 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Market7 Jul 2031
Jonás Cabrera 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 Central Córdoba SdE can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Jul 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Central Córdoba SdE have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Daniel Barrea is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.55 with 18 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match5 Jul 2031
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Central Córdoba SdE have 5 straight wins of it.
The dugout7 Jul 2031
Fausto San Pedro: 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.” Central Córdoba SdE have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market7 Jul 2031
The bid was some way short and Central Córdoba SdE did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match28 Jun 2031
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market30 Jun 2031
“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 ratings30 Jun 2031
Two goals and a mark of 9.71 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market30 Jun 2031
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Atlanta had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Daniel Barrea is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.52 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match28 Jun 2031
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market30 Jun 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Central Córdoba SdE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad30 Jun 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Central Córdoba SdE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Getting past Bautista Cejas has become the hardest job in the division
15 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Jun 2031
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad23 Jun 2031
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad23 Jun 2031
16 goals and a season average of 7.50. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market23 Jun 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match21 Jun 2031
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Central Córdoba SdE have 3 straight wins of it.
Player ratings23 Jun 2031
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Santiago Moyano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2031
Central Córdoba SdE asked and Independiente said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Barrea was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market9 Jun 2031
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Match4 Jun 2031
Out, 0‑4 to San Lorenzo, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings9 Jun 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.42, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match9 Jun 2031
First, on 52 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Market9 Jun 2031
“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.
Market9 Jun 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Central Córdoba SdE have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The terraces9 Jun 2031
It finished 0-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Transfer targets9 Jun 2031
Everything agreed with Penarol, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match17 May 2031
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Central Córdoba SdE have 8 straight wins of it.
Match17 May 2031
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad19 May 2031
Daniel Barrea is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.45 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings19 May 2031
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 May 2031
Santiago Moyano 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.
Squad19 May 2031
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Barrea 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 terraces19 May 2031
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.
Player ratings19 May 2031
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.27, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Boardroom10 Mar 2031
The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
The terraces10 Mar 2031
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Player ratings10 Mar 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.97, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market10 Mar 2031
“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.
Match8 Mar 2031
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
“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.
Market10 Mar 2031
Yoel Gerez has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Central Córdoba SdE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Mar 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Central Córdoba SdE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Mar 2031
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Feb 2031
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Central Córdoba SdE lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces10 Feb 2031
The mood at Central Córdoba SdE has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market10 Feb 2031
Only the photograph left for Yoel Gerez
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yoel Gerez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Central Córdoba SdE the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Daniel Barrea 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.
Boardroom10 Feb 2031
9 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Match8 Feb 2031
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jorge De Asis. 2‑1 against Agropecuario Argentino, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces10 Feb 2031
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Jonás Cabrera has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout10 Feb 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bautista Cejas, and the manager let it.
Player ratings10 Feb 2031
Marked 8.25 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Oct 2030
Horacio Tijanovich damages knee ligaments — 49 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Santiago Moyano 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 ratings14 Oct 2030
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Daniel Barrea 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.
Player ratings14 Oct 2030
A performance of 8.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match12 Oct 2030
A goal on 92 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
Matías Vera gets it from the manager
“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.
Match12 Oct 2030
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Oct 2030
Horacio Tijanovich damages knee ligaments — 56 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 56 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.
Squad7 Oct 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Santiago Moyano and Central Córdoba SdE agree another 2 years.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Daniel Barrea 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.
Match5 Oct 2030
1‑2 to Godoy Cruz, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonás Cabrera 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 dugout7 Oct 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bautista Cejas, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Oct 2030
The manager has not finished forgetting Santiago Moyano's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout7 Oct 2030
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings7 Oct 2030
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Sep 2030
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Central Córdoba SdE lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match28 Sep 2030
16 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Tigre were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Player ratings30 Sep 2030
Two goals and a mark of 9.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Boardroom30 Sep 2030
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad30 Sep 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Central Córdoba SdE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Daniel Barrea 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.
Player ratings30 Sep 2030
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Squad30 Sep 2030
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Aug 2030
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Central Córdoba SdE lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match10 Aug 2030
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Central Córdoba SdE are no longer polite ones.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Santiago Moyano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Barrea 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 dugout12 Aug 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jorge De Asis, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Aug 2030
Lucas Varaldo gets picked when it counts
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 Lucas Varaldo is on it.
Match10 Aug 2030
It needed Lucas Varaldo to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Barracas Central, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout12 Aug 2030
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.” Ezequiel De Luca chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Market12 Aug 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lucas Varaldo signs something — a contract at Central Córdoba SdE or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Aug 2030
119 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Central Córdoba SdE lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match3 Aug 2030
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Central Córdoba SdE has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout5 Aug 2030
“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.
Match3 Aug 2030
7 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Daniel Barrea 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.
Match3 Aug 2030
0‑2 to Independiente Rivadavia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Jonás Cabrera 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.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Jonás Cabrera is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Central Córdoba SdE will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The dugout5 Aug 2030
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Jul 2030
Horacio Tijanovich damages knee ligaments — 140 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 140 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.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
Central Córdoba SdE and River Plate have settled on $990.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Daniel Barrea 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.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tondela have kept their man, and Central Córdoba SdE go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonás Cabrera 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 dugout15 Jul 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jorge De Asis, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Jul 2030
Lucas Varaldo gets picked when it counts
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 Lucas Varaldo is on it.
Market15 Jul 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lucas Varaldo signs something — a contract at Central Córdoba SdE or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Looking ahead15 Jul 2030
Belgrano next, and one man in the Central Córdoba SdE dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 May 2030
77 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Central Córdoba SdE lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match6 May 2030
5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad6 May 2030
A fracture rules Luis Bruno out for 42 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Central Córdoba SdE will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match4 May 2030
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Central Córdoba SdE has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad6 May 2030
Santiago Moyano 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.
Match4 May 2030
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad6 May 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Barrea was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings6 May 2030
Daniel Barrea was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout6 May 2030
The manager makes an example of Jorge De Asis
“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
Match9 Mar 2030
Beaten 0‑3 by Rosario Central, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match9 Mar 2030
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Central Córdoba SdE are no longer polite ones.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Daniel Barrea and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match9 Mar 2030
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Player ratings11 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Lucas Bernabéu 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.
The dugout11 Mar 2030
The manager makes an example of Jorge De Asis
“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.
Boardroom11 Mar 2030
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout11 Mar 2030
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Feb 2030
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Central Córdoba SdE has to find a result from somewhere.
Market25 Feb 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Central Córdoba SdE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Feb 2030
José Gómez 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 ratings25 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Barrea 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.
Match23 Feb 2030
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
“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 dugout25 Feb 2030
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Ezequiel De Luca left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.